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Forest cover modulates diversity and morphological traits of ants in highly fragmented tropical forest landscapes

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Abstract

Landscape changes in tropical environments result in long-lasting and complex changes in biodiversity that involve several biological responses (e.g., loss of species diversity and functional diversity). Both taxonomic and functional diversity might respond differently to land-use change, and this response might also vary depending on several factors, such as the taxonomic group or landscape context. Even though each level of diversity expresses different properties of the community structure, studies characterizing the species community in human-dominated landscapes have often only focused on patterns involving taxonomic diversity. Here, we evaluated different descriptors of taxonomic (i.e., richness, diversity, and dominance) and functional entropy (i.e., richness, diversity, and redundancy) and the taxonomic and functional composition of ants in a forest cover gradient (%) in 16 highly fragmented tropical humid forest landscapes in Mexico. We found that all descriptors of taxonomic diversity decreased along a gradient of forest loss. Furthermore, functional redundancy was the only component of functional diversity that was positively associated with forest cover (%). These findings suggest an ecological backup of functions provided by species in landscapes with higher forest cover, protecting these landscapes against habitat disturbance or species loss. We also observed that landscapes with larger forest cover were inhabited by ant species with larger interocular distances and smaller femurs, which could allow predator ants the exploitation of ground cracks and higher mobility in leaf-litter microhabitats. Our results highlight the importance of the primary forest as a reservoir of the taxonomic and functional diversity of ants in highly fragmented tropical rainforest landscapes.

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Acknowledgements

The authors thank Praxedis Sinaca Colín and Karla Selene Andalco Cid for their help during fieldwork. We recognize Erick Corro for the help with obtaining the landscape parameters and data analysis. We express our sincere thanks to Pedro Luna and Roger Guevara for their advice on data analysis and Flavio Siqueira for sharing his knowledge about ant natural history. Our sincere gratitude goes out to Rosamond Coates and the staff of the Tropical Biology Station Los Tuxtlas for their support and hospitality. We thank the staff of the IEXA Entomological Collection, Dora L. Martínez Tlapa, Gibran Renoy Pérez Toledo and Delfino Hernández Lagunes, and Tae Tanaami for the identification of the entomological material. We extend our deep gratitude to the staff of the Museu Paraense Emílio Goeldi for the support and help during an academic internship. We also thank Armando Aguirre for financing part of the fieldwork, which was previously published in another study with a different research question.

Funding

Scholarship from CONACyT to DAA (No. 584340). MCR thanks CNPq (312045/2013-1; 402765/2021-4; 313016/2021-6, 312292/2016-3, and 442147/2020-1), FAPESP (process 2013/50421-2; 2020/1779-5; 2021/08534-0, 2021/10195-0), and CAPES (Procad project 88881.068425/2014-0) for financial support.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Red de Ecoetología, Instituto de Ecología A. C., Xalapa, Veracruz, Mexico

    Diana A. Ahuatzin, Daniel González-Tokman, Federico Escobar & Wesley Dáttilo

  2. Consejo Nacional de Ciencia y Tecnología, Mexico, Mexico, Mexico

    Daniel González-Tokman

  3. Coordenação de Ciências da Terra e Ecologia, Museu Paraense Emílio Goeldi, Belém, Pará, Brazil

    Rogério R. Silva

  4. Red de Ecología Funcional, Instituto de Ecología A. C., Xalapa, Veracruz, Mexico

    Jorge E. Valenzuela González

  5. Spatial Ecology and Conservation Lab (LEEC), Department of Biodiversity, Bioscience Institute, Universidade Estadual Paulista - UNESP, Rio Claro, São Paulo, Brazil

    Milton Cezar Ribeiro

  6. Environmental Studies Center (CEA), São Paulo, Brazil, São Paulo State University - UNESP, Rio Claro, São Paulo, Brazil

    Milton Cezar Ribeiro

  7. Centro de Investigaciones Tropicales, Universidad Veracruzana, Xalapa, Veracruz, Mexico

    Juan Carlos López Acosta

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  1. Diana A. Ahuatzin
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  2. Daniel González-Tokman
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  3. Rogério R. Silva
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  4. Jorge E. Valenzuela González
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  5. Federico Escobar
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  6. Milton Cezar Ribeiro
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  7. Juan Carlos López Acosta
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  8. Wesley Dáttilo
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Contributions

All authors designed the study and wrote the paper. DAA led data collection in the field, and DAA and WD analyzed the data.

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Correspondence to Wesley Dáttilo.

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Communicated by Akihiro Nakamura.

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Ahuatzin, D.A., González-Tokman, D., Silva, R.R. et al. Forest cover modulates diversity and morphological traits of ants in highly fragmented tropical forest landscapes. Biodivers Conserv 31, 2097–2117 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10531-022-02428-3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10531-022-02428-3

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