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Ant-plant networks exhibit distinct species diversity but similar organization in urban and wild areas of neotropical savannas

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Abstract

Interactions between ants and plants can form complex ecological networks, which may have their structure affected by human-induced habitat modification, such as urbanization. In this study, we investigated if the species diversity and the network topology of ant-plant co-occurrence networks (facultative associations between plants and ants) differs between remnants of Neotropical savannas. We sampled 12 savanna fragments (cerrado sensu stricto) in wild, rural and urban areas of Minas Gerais, Brazil. In total, the 12 ant-plant interaction networks were composed by 65 ant species, 83 plant species and 432 distinct interactions. We observed that in addition to variations in species composition, wild areas exhibited higher richness and abundance of ants compared to urban areas. However, our results show no variation in the specialization, modularity, and nestedness of ant-plant co-occurrence networks among urban, rural, and wild areas. Despite changes in species diversity, ant-plant interactions maintain consistent organization across studied environments, showcasing resilience to anthropogenic disturbances similar to that observed in wild remanants.

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Acknowledgements

The authors thank to Odirlei Simões and Santos D’Angelo (in memoriam) for their help in plant identification; Flávio Camarota for help in ant identification; the colleagues of the Laboratory of Ecological Interactions and Biodiversity - LIEB for their help in field collections, and the Instituto Estadual de Florestas – IEF team for the collection permit and support in field activities, and the financing agencies FAPEMIG, FAPESP, CAPES, and CNPq for financial support.

Funding

This research was funded by FAPEMIG (APQ-00394-18; APQ-03236-22) and CNPq (423915/2018-5; 308928/2022-9). Sampling in the Veredas do Peruaçu State Park was financed by PELD-VERE, a project supported by CNPq/CAPES/FAPEMIG-Brazil (CNPq 441440/2016-9; CAPES 88887.136273/2017–00; FAPEMIG APQ-04816-17).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Programa de Pós-Graduação em Biodiversidade e Uso dos Recursos Naturais, Universidade Estadual de Montes Claros, Montes Claros, Minas Gerais, Brazil

    Samira Rosa de Oliveira Lima, Edvânia Costa de Oliveira Sá & Poliane Neres Morais

  2. Instituto Federal do Norte de Minas Gerais, Salinas, Campus Salinas, Minas Gerais, Brazil

    Tatianne Gizelle Marques Silva

  3. Red de Ecoetología, Instituto de Ecología A.C, Xalapa, Mexico

    Wesley Dáttilo

  4. Departamento de Biologia Geral, Centro de Ciências Biológicas e da Saúde, Universidade Estadual de Montes Claros, Montes Claros, Minas Gerais, Brazil

    Walter Santos de Araújo

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  1. Samira Rosa de Oliveira Lima
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  2. Edvânia Costa de Oliveira Sá
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  3. Poliane Neres Morais
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  4. Tatianne Gizelle Marques Silva
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  5. Wesley Dáttilo
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  6. Walter Santos de Araújo
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Contributions

All authors contributed to the study conception and design. Material preparation and data collection were performed by Samira Rosa de Oliveira Lima, Edvânia Costa de Oliveira Sá and Poliane Neres Morais. Data analysis was performed by Samira Rosa de Oliveira Lima and Walter Santos de Araújo. The first draft of the manuscript was written by Samira Rosa de Oliveira Lima and all authors commented on previous versions of the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

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Correspondence to Walter Santos de Araújo.

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de Oliveira Lima, S.R., de Oliveira Sá, E.C., Morais, P.N. et al. Ant-plant networks exhibit distinct species diversity but similar organization in urban and wild areas of neotropical savannas. Urban Ecosyst (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11252-024-01556-8

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