Selectively Logging Old Growth Rain Forest Twice Changes Canopy Ant Species Composition, While Conversion to Oil Palm Changes Composition and Reduces Species Richness and Diversity

Tropical forests around the world, and particularly in Southeast Asia, are being affected by anthropogenic habitat conversion and degradation. Ants, an ecologically important group in the rainforest canopy, have previously been demonstrated to be robust to a single round of selective logging, but are strongly affected by conversion to oil palm. However, the impacts of multiple rounds of selective logging on canopy ants remain unexplored. We studied the ant assemblages across a habitat gradient comprising old growth forest, twice-logged forest and oil palm plantation in Sabah, Malaysian Borneo. Canopy ants were collected using insecticide fogging across 36 sampling sites. Old growth forest and twice-logged forest had similar species richness and Shannon species diversity. These two forest habitats were significantly higher in species richness and Shannon diversity than oil palm plantation. Abundance of canopy ants was similar across all three habitats. There was a significant difference in species composition between all pairs of habitats. Leaf litter depth on the ground was positively related to ant species richness, while canopy cover was positively related to ant abundance. Hence, multiple rounds of logging cause shifts in ant species composition, while forest conversion to oil palm additionally causes reductions in ant diversity. This is of concern, since forests in Sabah and elsewhere are becoming increasingly degraded. Our results indicate that both old growth and twice-logged rain forests can be useful for conservation of canopy ants

Ant mosaics in Bornean primary rain forest high canopy depend on spatial scale, time of day, and sampling method.

Background: Competitive interactions in biological communities can be thought of as giving rise to "assembly rules" that dictate the species that are able to co-exist. Ant communities in tropical canopies often display a particular pattern, an "ant mosaic", in which competition between dominant ant species results in a patchwork of mutually exclusive territories. Although ant mosaics have been well-documented in plantation landscapes, their presence in pristine tropical forests remained contentious until recently. Here we assess presence of ant mosaics in a hitherto under-investigated forest stratum, the emergent trees of the high canopy in primary tropical rain forest, and explore how the strength of any ant mosaics is affected by spatial scale, time of day, and sampling method. Methods: To test whether these factors might impact the detection of ant mosaics in pristine habitats, we sampled ant communities from emergent trees, which rise above the highest canopy layers in lowland dipterocarp rain forests in North Borneo (38.8-60.2 m), using both baiting and insecticide fogging. Critically, we restricted sampling to only the canopy of each focal tree. For baiting, we carried out sampling during both the day and the night. We used null models of species co-occurrence to assess patterns of segregation at within-tree and between-tree scales. Results: The numerically dominant ant species on the emergent trees sampled formed a diverse community, with differences in the identity of dominant species between times of day and sampling methods. Between trees, we found patterns of ant species segregation consistent with the existence of ant mosaics using both methods. Within trees, fogged ants were segregated, while baited ants were segregated only at night. Discussion: We conclude that ant mosaics are present within the emergent trees of the high canopy of tropical rain forest in Malaysian Borneo, and that sampling technique, spatial scale, and time of day interact to determine observed patterns of segregation. Restricting sampling to only emergent trees reveals segregatory patterns not observed in ground-based studies, confirming previous observations of stronger segregation with increasing height in the canopy.Kalsum M. Yusah was funded by the South East Asia Rainforest Research Partnership (SEARRP), a Malaysian Ministry of Higher Education Fundamental Research Grant (FRG0373- STWN- 1/ 2014), and a Universiti Malaysia Sabah New Lecturer Grant Scheme grant (SLB0071- STWN- 2013). Tom M. Fayle was funded by a Czech Science Foundation standard grant (16-09427S)

Living together in novel habitats: a review of land-use change impacts on mutualistic ant-plant symbioses in tropical forests

Symbiotic mutualisms between ants and plants are those in which ants provide protection from herbivory and competition from other plants, while plants provide living space in specially adapted structures, and sometimes also food. Critically, the ants inhabit the plant (symbiosis) and hence reproductive interests are often (but not always) more strongly tied than in non-symbiotic mutualisms. Ant-plant symbioses are particularly diverse in tropical forests, a habitat under severe threat from human exploitation around the world. Understanding responses of ant-plant symbiotic mutualisms to tropical habitat change is important, because both ants and their plant hosts can play key roles in the wider ecosystem. Here we summarise the current state of knowledge of the impacts of habitat change on ant-plant symbioses in tropical forests. We take as a case study the two-way by-product mutualism between bird’s nest ferns and their ant symbionts in SE Asian rain forest, and the response of this system to logging and conversion to oil palm plantation. We conclude that ant-plant symbioses are surprisingly robust to habitat change, although while the interaction often persists, some partners from pristine habitats may not survive, with their roles being filled by non-native species

Ant Community Structure in Secondary Logged Forest of Malua Forest Reserve, Sabah, Borneo

Ants are ecologically dominant and important in the functioning of an ecosystem. Thus, understanding their community structure has become fundamental in ecological studies. This study aims to examine the ant richness, abundance, and composition in the secondary logged forests of Sabah, Malaysia. Ground-based fogging was employed to collect canopy ants (n=38) and Winkler extraction method for leaf litter ants (n=63). A total of 12,810 ant individuals were collected, representing 389 morphospecies, 65 genera, and 11 subfamilies. The most species-rich subfamily for canopy and leaf litter ants were Formicinae (112 morphospecies, 49.34%) and Myrmicinae (116 morphospecies, 58.00%) respectively. Polyrhachis (56 morphospecies, 24.67%) was the most diverse genera in the canopy, while Pheidole (23 morphospecies, 11.50%) was the most speciose genera on the leaf litter. The most abundant species for canopy and leaf litter ants were Dolichoderus 1 (876 individuals) and Carebara 2 (1,215 individuals) respectively. The randomized species accumulation curves and species richness estimators reveal that additional sampling is required. We suggest that incorporating a variety of ant sampling methods and high sampling efforts are important to thoroughly sample the ant assemblage in an area

Tree diversity and liana infestation predict acoustic diversity in logged tropical forests

Logged tropical forests can retain a great deal of biodiversity, but there is substantial variation in the type and severity of habitat degradation caused by logging. Logging-induced habitat degradation can vary significantly at fine spatial scales, with differing effects on plant communities and the growth of lianas, which are woody, climbing vines that proliferate in degraded forests and infest trees by climbing onto them and competing for above and below ground resources. The impacts of such fine-scale variation in habitat structure on faunal diversity is relatively poorly known. We recorded soundscapes and variation in local-scale habitat structure in selectively logged and old-growth primary forests in Malaysian Borneo to examine how changes to logged forest structure predict variation in acoustic diversity indices that are known to correlate with biodiversity indices. We show that acoustic indices relating to higher soundscape diversity increase with liana prevalence but decline with tree species richness and are unaffected by the liana load of adult trees. Our results suggest that acoustic data represent a simple, practicable measure for detecting fine-scale patterns of biodiversity response to post-logging habitat structure. Our findings also suggest that retaining many trees lightly infested by lianas in logged forests is the optimal outcome for biodiversity. This emphasises the need for forest restoration that retains some climbers, rather than blanket-cutting of all stems in projects seeking to return post-logging forest communities towards their primary forest state

Identifying habitat and understanding movement resistance for the Endangered Bornean banteng Bos javanicus lowi in Sabah, Malaysia

Habitat prioritization and corridor restoration are important steps for reconnecting fragmented habitats and species populations, and spatial modelling approaches are useful in identifying suitable habitat for elusive tropical rainforest mammals. The Endangered Bornean banteng Bos javanicus lowi, a wild bovid endemic to Borneo, occurs in habitat that is highly fragmented as a result of extensive agricultural expansion. Based on the species’ historical distribution in Sabah (Malaysia), we conducted camera-trap surveys in 14 forest reserves during 2011–2016. To assess suitable habitat for the banteng we used a presence-only maximum entropy (MaxEnt) approach with 11 spatial predictors, including climate, infrastructure, land cover and land use, and topography variables. We performed a least-cost path analysis using Linkage Mapper, to understand the resistance to movement through the landscape. The surveys comprised a total of 44,251 nights of camera trapping. We recorded banteng presence in 11 forest reserves. Key spatial predictors deemed to be important in predicting suitable habitat included soil associations (52.6%), distance to intact and logged forests (11.8%), precipitation in the driest quarter (10.8%), distance to agro-forest and regenerating forest (5.7%), and distance to oil palm plantations (5.1%). Circa 11% of Sabah had suitable habitat (7,719 km2), of which 12.2% was in protected forests, 60.4% was in production forests and 27.4% was in other areas. The least-cost path model predicted 21 linkages and a relatively high movement resistance between core habitats. Our models provide information about key habitat and movement resistance for bantengs through the landscape, which is crucial for constructive conservation strategies and land-use planning

Rimonabant improves cardiometabolic risk factors in overweight/obese patients irrespective of treatment with statins: Pooled data from the RIO program

peer reviewe

The Life of a Dead Ant:The Expression of an Adaptive Extended Phenotype

Specialized parasites are expected to express complex adaptations to their hosts. Manipulation of host behavior is such an adaptation. We studied the fungus Ophiocordyceps unilateralis, a locally specialized parasite of arboreal Camponotus leonardi ants. Ant-infecting Ophiocordyceps are known to make hosts bite onto vegetation before killing them. We show that this represents a fine-tuned fungal adaptation: an extended phenotype. Dead ants were found under leaves, attached by their mandibles, on the northern side of saplings similar to 25 cm above the soil, where temperature and humidity conditions were optimal for fungal growth. Experimental relocation confirmed that parasite fitness was lower outside this manipulative zone. Host resources were rapidly colonized and further secured by extensive internal structuring. Nutritional composition analysis indicated that such structuring allows the parasite to produce a large fruiting body for spore production. Our findings suggest that the osmotrophic lifestyle of fungi may have facilitated novel exploitation strategies

Entotourism potential in Sabah, Malaysia: A Tourists’ perspective

In favor of the Big Five Invertebrates form the basis for ecosystem functioning but are typically neglected in ecotourism activities. Entotourism is introduced to elevate awareness about the potential of invertebrates and their conservation activity through tourism. Improved awareness via tourism activity can potentially lead to improved conservation practices. Yet, do tourists accept entotourism as another product of ecotourism? This study aims to determine the perception of tourists on entotourism activity in Sabah. We are implementing a mixed-method to acquire information needed via questionnaire surveys and in-depth interviews. At the same time, we applied a random sampling technique to gain the respective respondents. Data analysis used a t-test to examine gender perception and presented via Spider-Web configuration. In comparison, we used content analysis via Leximancer for qualitative analysis. This study demonstrated that people have a slightly different perception of insects and awareness based on their gender. Results show that most participants responded positively to insect information, awareness and their interest in certain insects. Respondents also gave their support to entotourism, which provided them with some new knowledge about insects. The interview has also indicated a positive perception of invertebrate information as part of the entotourism concept included in ecotourism activity. In conclusion, tourists’ perception of entotourism activity unveils a significant potential for the inclusion of invertebrate into current and future ecotourism activity, especially in Sabah. Alternately, it can be applied as a preparatory step for better planning and execution of invertebrate’s conservation and entotourism activity