Skip to main content

Advertisement

SpringerLink
Log in

Ecosystem engineering in the arboreal realm: heterogeneity of wood-boring beetle cavities and their use by cavity-nesting ants

  • Plant-microbe-animal interactions – original research
  • Published:
Oecologia Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Wood-boring beetle larvae act as ecosystem engineers by creating stem cavities that are used secondarily as nests by many arboreal ant species. Understanding the heterogeneity and distribution of available cavities and their use by ants is therefore key to understanding arboreal ant community assembly and diversity. Our goals were to quantify the abundance and diversity of beetle-produced cavity resources in a tropical canopy, reveal how ants use these resources, and determine which characteristics of the cavity resource contribute to ant use. We dissected branches from six common tree species in the Brazilian Cerrado savanna, measuring cavity characteristics and identifying the occupants. We sampled 2310 individual cavities, 576 of which were used as nests by 25 arboreal ant species. We found significant differences among tree species in the proportion of stem length bored by beetles, the number of cavities per stem length, average entrance-hole size, and the distribution of cavity volumes. The likelihood that a cavity was occupied was greater for cavities with larger entrance-hole sizes and larger volumes. In particular, there was a strong positive correlation between mean head diameters of ant species and the mean entrance-hole diameter of the cavities occupied by those ant species. Wood-boring beetles contribute to the structuring of the Cerrado ant community by differentially attacking the available tree species. In so doing, the beetles provide a wide range of entrance-hole sizes which ant species partition based on their body size, and large volume cavities that ants appear to prefer.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4
Fig. 5

Similar content being viewed by others

Data accessibility

Data are archived in the Dryad Digital Repository, https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.73n5tb2x2.

References

  • Berkov A, Tavakilian G (1999) Host utilization of the Brazil nut family (Lecythidaceae) by sympatric wood-boring species of Palame (Coleoptera, Cerambycidae, Lamiinae, Acanthocinini). Biol J Linn Soc 67:181–198

    Google Scholar 

  • Boege K, Marquis RJ (2005) Facing herbivory as you grow up: the ontogeny of resistance in plants. Trends Ecol Evol 20:441–448

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Bonato V, Cogni R, Venticinque EM (2003) Ants nesting on Cecropia purpurascens (Cecropiaceae) in central Amazonia: influence of tree height, domatia volume and food bodies. Sociobiology 42:719–727

    Google Scholar 

  • Camacho GP, Vasconcelos HL (2015) Ants of the Panga ecological station, a Cerrado reserve in central Brazil. Sociobiol 62:281–295

    Google Scholar 

  • Camarota F, Powell S, Melo AS, Priest G, Marquis RJ, Vasconcelos H (2016) Co-occurrence patterns in a diverse arboreal ant community are explained more by competition than habitat requirements. Ecol Evol 6:8907–8918

    PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Camarota F, Vasconcelos HL, Marquis RJ, Powell S (2020) Revisiting ecological dominance in arboreal ants: how dominant usage of nesting resources shapes community assembly. Oecologia 194:151–163

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Campbell H, Fellowes MDE, Cook JM (2013) Arboreal thorn-dwelling ants coexisting on the savannah ant-plant, Vachellia erioloba, use domatia morphology to select nest sites. Ins Soc 60:373–382

    Google Scholar 

  • Cardinale BJ, Gelmann ER, Palmer MA (2004) Net spinning caddisflies as stream ecosystem engineers: the influence of Hydropsyche on benthic substrate stability. Func Ecol 18:381–387

    Google Scholar 

  • Chave J, Muller-Landau HC, Baker TR, Easdale TA, Steege HT, Webb CO (2006) Regional and phylogenetic variation of wood density across 2456 tree species. Ecol Appl 16:2356–2367

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Christiansen E, Waring RH, Berryman AA (1987) Resistance of conifers to bark beetle attack: searching for general relationships. For Ecol Mgt 22:89–106

    Google Scholar 

  • Dornhaus A, Powell S (2010) Foraging and defence strategies. In: Lach L, Parr CL, Abott L (eds) Ant ecology. Oxford University Press, Oxford, pp 210–230

    Google Scholar 

  • Feller IC, Mathis WN (1997) Primary herbivory by wood-boring insects along an architectural gradient of rhizophora mangle. Biotropica 29:440–451

    Google Scholar 

  • Folgarait PJ (1998) Ant biodiversity and its relationship to ecosystem functioning: a review. Biodiv Cons 7:1221–1244

    Google Scholar 

  • Hanks LM (1999) Influence of the larval host plant on reproductive strategies of cerambycid beetles. Ann Rev Ent 44:483–505

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Hanks LM, Paine TD, Millar JG (1993) Host species preference and larval performance in the wood-boring beetle Phoracantha semipunctata F. Oecologia 95:22–29

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Jiménez-Soto E, Philpott SM (2015) Size matters: nest colonization patterns for twig-nesting ants. Ecol Evol 5:3288–3298

    PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Jones CG, Lawton JH, Shachak M (1997) Positive and negative effects of organisms as physical ecosystem engineers. Ecology 78:1946–1957

    Google Scholar 

  • Klimes P, Idigel C, Rimandai M, Fayle TM, Janda M, Weiblen GD, Novotny V (2012) Why are there more arboreal ant species in primary than in secondary tropical forests? J Anim Ecol 81:1103–1112

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Marquis RJ, Lill JT (2010) Impact of plant architecture versus leaf quality on attack by leaf-tying caterpillars on five oak species. Oecologia 163:203–213

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Mottl O, Yombai J, Fayle TM, Novotný V, Klimeš P (2020) Experiments with artificial nests provide evidence for ant community stratification and nest site limitation in a tropical forest. Biotropica 52:277–287

    Google Scholar 

  • Novais SM, DaRocha WD, Calderón-Cortés N, Quesada M (2017) Wood-boring beetles promote ant nest cavities: extended effects of a twig-girdler ecosystem engineer. Basic Appl Ecol 24:53–59

    Google Scholar 

  • Novais S, Calderón-Cortés N, Sánchez-Montoya G, Quesada M (2018) Arthropod facilitation by wood-boring beetles: spatio-temporal distribution mediated by a twig-girdler ecosystem engineer. J Ins Sci. https://doi.org/10.1093/jisesa/iey097

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Novotny V, Miller SE, Baje L, Balagawi S, Basset Y, Cizek L, Craft KJ, Dem F, Drew RA, Hulcr J, Leps J (2010) Guild-specific patterns of species richness and host specialization in plant–herbivore food webs from a tropical forest. J Anim Ecol 79:1193–1203

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Palmer TM, Stanton ML, Young TP, Goheen JR, Pringle RM, Karban R (2008) Breakdown of an ant-plant mutualism follows the loss of large herbivores from an African savanna. Science 319:192–195

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Philpott SM, Foster PF (2005) Nest-site limitation in coffee agroecosystems: artificial nests maintain diversity of arboreal ants. Ecol Appl 15:1478–1485

    Google Scholar 

  • Philpott SM, Serber Z, De la Mora A (2018) Influences of species interactions with aggressive ants and habitat filtering on nest colonization and community composition of arboreal twig-nesting ants. Env Ent 47:309–317

    Google Scholar 

  • Powell S (2008) Ecological specialization and the evolution of a specialized caste in Cephalotes ants. Func Ecol 22:902–911

    Google Scholar 

  • Powell S (2009) How ecology shapes caste evolution: linking resource use, morphology, performance and fitness in a superorganism. J Evol Biol 22:1004–1013

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Powell S (2016a) A comparative perspective on the ecology of morphological diversification in complex societies: nesting ecology and soldier evolution in the turtle ants. Beh Ecol Soc 70:1075–1085. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00265-016-2080-8

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Powell S (2016b) A comparative perspective on the ecology of morphological diversification in complex societies: nesting ecology and soldier evolution in the turtle ants. Behav Ecol Soc 70:1075–1085

    Google Scholar 

  • Powell S, Dornhaus A (2013) Soldier-based defences dynamically track resource availability and quality in ants. Anim Behav 85:157–164

    Google Scholar 

  • Powell S, Costa AN, Lopes CT, Vasconcelos HL (2011) Canopy connectivity and the availability of diverse nesting resources affect species coexistence in arboreal ants. J Anim Ecol 80:352–360

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Powell S, Donaldson-Matasci M, Woodrow-Tomizuka A, Dornhaus A (2017) Context-dependent defences in turtle ants: Resource defensibility and threat level induce dynamic shifts in soldier deployment. Func Ecol 31:2287–2298

    Google Scholar 

  • Powell S, Price SL, Kronauer DJC (2020) Trait evolution is reversible, repeatable, and decoupled in the soldier caste of turtle ants. Proc Nat Acad Sci USA 117:6608–6615

    CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Priest GV, Camarota F, Vasconcelos HL, Powell S, Marquis RJ (2021) Active modification of cavity nest-entrances is a common strategy in arboreal ants. Biotropica. https://doi.org/10.1111/btp.12922 (in press)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Reagel PF, Smith MT, Hanks LM (2012) Effects of larval host diameter on body size, adult density, and parasitism of cerambycid beetles. Can Ent 144:435–438

    Google Scholar 

  • Satoh T, Yoshida T, Koyama S, Yamagami A, Takata M, Doi H, Kurach T, Hayashi S, Hirobe T, Hata Y (2016) Resource partitioning based on body size contributes to the species diversity of wood‐boring beetles and arboreal nesting ants. Ins Cons Div 9:4–12

    Google Scholar 

  • Scholz FG, Bucci SJ, Goldstein G, Meinzer FC, Franco AC, Miralles-Wilhelm F (2007) Biophysical properties and functional significance of stem water storage tissues in Neotropical savanna trees. Plant Cell Env 30:236–248

  • Sousa R, Gutiérrez JL, Aldridge DC (2009) Non-indigenous invasive bivalves as ecosystem engineers. Biol Inv 11:2367–2385

    Google Scholar 

  • Villari C, Herms DA, Whitehill JG, Cipollini D, Bonello P (2016) Progress and gaps in understanding mechanisms of ash tree resistance to emerald ash borer, a model for wood-boring insects that kill angiosperms. New Phytol 209:63–79

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Warton DI, Hui FK (2011) The arcsine is asinine: the analysis of proportions in ecology. Ecol 92:3–10

    Google Scholar 

  • Wild C, Hoegh-Guldberg O, Naumann MS, Colombo-Pallotta MF, Ateweberhan M, Fitt WK, Loya Y (2011) Climate change impedes scleractinian corals as primary reef ecosystem engineers. Mar Fresh Res 62:205–215

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Wills BD, Powell S, Rivera MD, Suarez AV (2018) Correlates and consequences of worker polymorphism in ants. Ann Rev Ent 63:575–598

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Wright JP, Jones CG (2006) The concept of organisms as ecosystem engineers ten years on: progress, limitations, and challenges. Bioscience 56:203–209

    Google Scholar 

  • Yule K, Burns K (2017) Host defence predicts host specificity in a long-lived arboreal parasite. Evol Ecol 31:37–50

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

This work was funded by grant NSF DEB 0842144. SP and FC had additional support from grant NSF DEB 1442256, and HLV was supported by grants from the Brazilian Council of Research and Scientific Development (CNPq) and the Research Foundation of Minas Gerais (FAPEMIG).

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biology and the Whitney R. Harris World Ecology Center, University of Missouri-St. Louis, St. Louis, MO, 63121, USA

    Galen V. Priest & Robert J. Marquis

  2. Instituto de Biologia, Universidade Federal de Uberlândia, Uberlândia, MG, Brazil

    Flávio Camarota & Heraldo L. Vasconcelos

  3. Department of Biological Sciences, The George Washington University, Washington, DC, 20052, USA

    Flávio Camarota & Scott Powell

  4. Departamento de Biologia Geral, Universidade Federal de Viçosa, Viçosa, MG, Brazil

    Flávio Camarota

Authors
  1. Galen V. Priest
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Flávio Camarota
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Scott Powell
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Heraldo L. Vasconcelos
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. Robert J. Marquis
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Contributions

GVP, FC, RJM, and SP designed the data collection and collected the data; GVP and RJM analyzed the data; GVP wrote the original manuscript, and RJM, SP, FC, and HLV all contributed revisions and suggestions.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Robert J. Marquis.

Ethics declarations

Conflict of interest

The authors state that they have no conflicts of interest.

Additional information

Communicated by Jessica Forrest.

Supplementary Information

Below is the link to the electronic supplementary material.

Supplementary file1 (DOCX 42 KB)

Supplementary file2 (PDF 20495 KB)

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Priest, G.V., Camarota, F., Powell, S. et al. Ecosystem engineering in the arboreal realm: heterogeneity of wood-boring beetle cavities and their use by cavity-nesting ants. Oecologia 196, 427–439 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00442-021-04934-7

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00442-021-04934-7

Keywords

Search

Navigation