Ants accelerate litter decomposition in a Costa Rican lowland tropical rain forest

2012 ◽  
Vol 28 (5) ◽  
pp. 437-443 ◽  
Author(s):  
Terrence P. McGlynn ◽  
Evan K. Poirson
Keyword(s):  
Mass Loss ◽  
Leaf Litter ◽  
Litter Decomposition ◽  
Rain Forest ◽  
Costa Rican ◽  
Tropical Rain Forests ◽  
Rain Forests ◽  
Food Web Structure ◽  
Litter Bags ◽  
Lowland Rain Forest

Abstract:The decomposition of leaf litter is governed, in part, by litter invertebrates. In tropical rain forests, ants are dominant predators in the leaf litter and may alter litter decomposition through the action of a top-down control of food web structure. The role of ants in litter decomposition was investigated in a Costa Rican lowland rain forest with two experiments. In a mesocosm experiment, we manipulated ant presence in 50 ambient leaf-litter mesocosms. In a litterbag gradient experiment, Cecropia obtusifolia litter was used to measure decomposition rate constants across gradients in nutrients, ant density and richness, with 27 separate litterbag treatments for total arthropod exclusion or partial arthropod exclusion. After 2 mo, mass loss in mesocosms containing ants was 30.9%, significantly greater than the 23.5% mass loss in mesocosms without ants. In the litter bags with all arthropods excluded, decomposition was best accounted by the carbon: phosphorus content of soil (r2 = 0.41). In litter bags permitting smaller arthropods but excluding ants, decomposition was best explained by the local biomass of ants in the vicinity of the litter bags (r2 = 0.50). Once the microarthropod prey of ants are permitted to enter litterbags, the biomass of ants near the litterbags overtakes soil chemistry as the regulator of decomposition. In concert, these results support a working hypothesis that litter-dwelling ants are responsible for accelerating litter decomposition in lowland tropical rain forests.

Stratification of ants (Hymenoptera, Formicidae) in a primary rain forest in Sabah, Borneo

1998 ◽  
Vol 14 (3) ◽  
pp. 285-297 ◽  
Author(s):  
CARSTEN A. BRÜHL ◽  
GUNIK GUNSALAM ◽  
K. EDUARD LINSENMAIR
Keyword(s):  
Leaf Litter ◽  
Broad Spectrum ◽  
Rain Forest ◽  
Tropical Rain Forest ◽  
Tropical Rain Forests ◽  
Rain Forests ◽  
Ant Community ◽  
Collecting Methods ◽  
High Diversity

The ant fauna of a rain forest in Sabah, Malaysia was sampled by using different collecting methods in three strata. In total, 524 morphospecies of ants could be distinguished. They belong to seven subfamilies and 73 genera. So far, the ant community described is the most species rich published for a primary tropical rain forest. Regarding the stratification in the forest, the leaf litter community comprised as many ant species as the lower vegetation or canopy. Furthermore the litter stratum had the highest generic diversity. The stratification of ants in rain forests seems to be a very strict one with the majority of species (75%) being related to only one stratum. This is in contrast to findings on the stratification of beetles in rain forests. The stratification and a radiation of some groups into vegetation and canopy, where a broad spectrum of permanent habitats exist, is responsible for the high diversity of ants in tropical rain forests.

Decomposition of Populustremuloides leaf litter accelerated by addition of Alnuscrispa litter

1989 ◽  
Vol 19 (5) ◽  
pp. 674-679 ◽  
Author(s):  
Barry R. Taylor ◽  
William F. J. Parsons ◽  
Dennis Parkinson
Keyword(s):  
Mass Loss ◽  
Leaf Litter ◽  
Loss Rate ◽  
Mass Loss Rate ◽  
Rocky Mountain ◽  
Litter Type ◽  
Litter Bags ◽  
Mass Losses ◽  
Mixed Litter ◽  
Aspen Forest

Decomposition of a slow-decaying litter type is expected to be faster in the presence of a nutrient-rich, fast-decaying litter type, but this effect has never been conclusively demonstrated for deciduous leaves. In a Rocky Mountain aspen forest, we followed decomposition of leaf litter of trembling aspen (Populustremuloides), a relatively slow-decomposing, nutrient-poor species, and green alder (Alnuscrispa), a nutrient-rich, faster-decomposing species, as well as a mixture of the two, for 2 years. Mass losses over the first winter were greatest for aspen alone, probably as a result of loss of solubles, but the mass loss rate overall was lowest for aspen (k = −0.191/year) and greatest for alder (k = −0.251/year). Mass loss rate for mixed litter (k = −0.245/year) was much closer to the rate for alder than for aspen, demonstrating a marked acceleration of mass loss rates in the mixed-litter bags. At these rates, 95% mass loss would be achieved by aspen, alder, and mixed litter in 14.5, 11.5, and 11.6 years, respectively.

scholarly journals LINGKUNGAN VEGETASI SITUS PERCANDIAN PADANG LAWAS DAN TUMBUHAN BALAKA

2011 ◽  
Vol 31 (1) ◽  
pp. 31-44
Author(s):  
Arfian Arfian
Keyword(s):  
Rain Forest ◽  
Tropical Rain Forest ◽  
Wild Plant ◽  
Tropical Rain Forests ◽  
Rain Forests ◽  
Open Spaces ◽  
Lowland Tropical Rain Forest ◽  
Plant Families ◽  
High Level

Based on the results of research on the vegetation around Padang Lawas Temples, Padang Lawas Regency, North Sumatera Province, can be known that Padang Lawas Temple sites are located in vegetation environment of lowland tropical rain forest with a high level diversity of plant families, one of those plant families is Euphorbiaceae with one of its species, Phylanthus emlica. L(Balaka). Phylanthus emlica is a type wild plant that grows open spaces in lowland tropical rain forests. Observing its life characteristic and its habitat, then Balaka plant (Phylanthus emlica) in Padang Lawas Temples’ yards was not planted in purpose planted but grows naturally. Balaka plant (Phylanthus emlica) has different name in every area. In Melayu, this plant is known as malaka. In Minangkabau known as balaka, in Sunda known as malaka and in Java, this plant is known as Kemloko, meanwhile in Madura and Bali this plant is called mlakah ,and karsinta in Flores (NTT)

scholarly journals Diversity and ecology of carrion- and fruit-feeding butterflies in Bornean rain forest

2005 ◽  
Vol 22 (1) ◽  
pp. 25-33 ◽  
Author(s):  
K. C. Hamer ◽  
J. K. Hill ◽  
S. Benedick ◽  
N. Mustaffa ◽  
V. K. Chey ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Rain Forest ◽  
Tropical Rain Forests ◽  
Lowland Rain Forest ◽  
Mobile Species ◽  
Β Diversity ◽  
Fruit Species ◽  
Larval Host ◽  
Flight Morphology ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Host Plant Specificity

Tropical rain forests are well known as centres of insect diversity and much effort has focused on the role of larval host plant specificity in generating and maintaining this diversity, but fewer studies have examined the exploitation of different food resources by adults in this context. Tropical butterflies feed as adults on a wide range of resources and we examined the diversity and ecology of species feeding on rotting fruit and carrion in a tropical lowland rain forest in Sabah, Borneo. We found that species richness and diversity were significantly higher on carrion than on fruit, and that this pattern was repeated at genus and family level. There was little similarity in species assemblages on the two substrates and β-diversity between carrion and fruit comprised 33% of the total diversity of butterflies feeding on decaying matter. β-diversity between canopy gap and shade microhabitats comprised 21% of total species diversity on carrion but only 7% of the total on fruit, indicating greater functional diversity on carrion in terms of light preferences. Captures were strongly male-biased on carrion but not on fruit, and recapture rates were much lower on carrion than on fruit. Species from two subfamilies (Nymphalinae and Charaxinae) exploited both substrates and for Charaxinae, there was evidence from adult flight morphology that species on carrion were capable of faster more-powerful flight. These results support the notion of a distinctive carrion-feeding fauna comprising more mobile species, which may use carrion to meet additional nitrogen requirements resulting from greater musculature. However there was no relationship between flight morphology and substrate choice in the Nymphalinae, and carrion-feeding may not have a unitary explanation.

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