The critical role of ants in the extensive dispersal of Acacia seeds revealed by genetic parentage assignment

Ants are prominent seed dispersal agents in many ecosystems, and dispersal distances are small in comparison with vertebrate dispersal agents. However, the distance and distribution of ant-mediated dispersal in arid/semi-arid environments remains poorly explored. We used microsatellite markers and parentage assignment to quantify the distance and distribution of dispersed seeds of Acacia karina, retrieved from the middens of Iridomyrmex agilis and Melophorus turneri perthensis. From parentage assignment, we could not distinguish the maternal from each parent pair assigned to each seed, so we applied two approaches to estimate dispersal distances, one conservative (CONS), where the parent closest to the ant midden was considered to be maternal, and the second where both parents were deemed equally likely (EL) to be maternal, and used both distances. Parentage was assigned to 124 seeds from eight middens. Maximum seed dispersal distances detected were 417 m (CONS) and 423 m (EL), more than double the estimated global maximum. Mean seed dispersal distances of 40 m (±5.8 SE) (CONS) and 79 m (±6.4 SE) (EL) exceeded the published global average of 2.24 m (±7.19 SD) by at least one order of magnitude. For both approaches and both ant species, seed dispersal was predominantly (44–84 % of all seeds) within 50 m from the maternal source, with fewer dispersal events at longer distances. Ants in this semi-arid environment have demonstrated a greater capacity to disperse seeds than estimated elsewhere, which highlights their important role in this system, and suggests significant novel ecological and evolutionary consequences for myrmecochorous species in arid/semi-arid Australia

The effects of reducing bird predation on canopy arthropods of marri (Eucalyptus calophylla) saplings on the Swan Coastal Plain, Western Australia

The effect of bird predation on canopy arthropods inhabiting Marri (Eucalyptus calophylla) saplings was examined in Banksia woodland on the Swan Coastal Plain of Western Australia. Twenty pairs of saplings were selected and one of each pair was enclosed in bird-proof mesh to exclude foraging birds. Saplings were sampled in April 1998, prior to bird exclusion, and in August 1997, October 1997 and May 1998 after exclusion. Abundance, species richness and size of some arthropods increased on meshed saplings in certain months following bird exclusion. Spiders (Araneae) were most different between meshed and open saplings, with their abundance increasing on the saplings from which birds were excluded and remaining significantly more abundant after one year. The abundance of larger arthropods (in particular, spiders) increased and smaller animals decreased following bird exclusion, suggesting an interaction with birds on spiders as prey, and between spiders and their prey. Additional evidence of an effect of bird predation on the arthropod fauna was found in the amount of arthropod- related damage to leaves on meshed and open saplings. Damage to leaves, recorded over an 8-week period in spring, on meshed saplings was 21% of total leaf area, compared with 6% on open saplings. These differences indicate that damage to canopy foliage is reduced by bird predation of herbivorous arthropods, and are consistent with trends in arthropod abundances between open and meshed saplings. We conclude that predation by birds affects the composition and size structure of canopy arthropod communities on eucalypts, and there is merit in initiating longer and more extensive studies

Herbivory-induced extrafloral nectar increases native and invasive ant worker survival

Ascertaining the costs and benefits of mutualistic interactions is important for predicting their stability and effect on community dynamics. Despite widespread designation of the interaction between ants and extrafloral nectaries (EFNs) as a mutualism and over 100 years of studies on ant benefits to plants, the benefits to ants have never been experimentally quantified. The success of invasive ants is thought to be linked to the availability of carbohydrate-rich resources, though reports of invasive ant visits to EFNs are mixed. In two laboratory experiments, we compared worker survival of one native (Iridomyrmex chasei) and two invasive ant species (Linepithema humile and Pheidole megacephala) exposed to herbivorized or non-herbivorized EFN-bearing plants (Acacia saligna) or positive and negative controls. We found that non-herbivorized plants did not produce any measurable extrafloral nectar, and ants with access to non-herbivorized plants had the same survival as ants with access to an artificial plant and water (unfed ants). Ants given herbivorized plants had 7-11 times greater worker survival relative to unfed ants, but there were no differences in survival between native and invasive ants exposed to herbivorized plants. Our results reveal that ants cannot induce A. saligna extrafloral nectar production, but workers of both native and invasive ant species can benefit from extrafloral nectar as much as they benefit from sucrose

Trunk invertebrate faunas of Western Australian forests and woodlands: Seeking causes of patterns along a west-east gradient

Trunk-associated invertebrates were sampled on marri trees (Eucalyptus (Corymbia) calophylla) along a transect from Karragullen, near Perth, through to Dryandra, 150 km to the south-east. This represents a drop in annual rainfall from 1078 to 504 mm, which is accompanied by a change from jarrah (Eucalyptus marginata) forest to wandoo (Eucalyptus wandoo) woodland. Invertebrates were sampled by intercept traps, which collect invertebrates that attempt to land on the trunks, and bark traps, which collect invertebrates that move, or live, on the trunk. Trends are reported here at the ordinal level. The variety and abundance of invertebrates sampled was generally greater in the intercept than the bark traps. Invertebrate abundance, activity and biomass on bark were strongly seasonal, with greater numbers being found during the moister periods. Invertebrate abundances tended to be greater at the drier, eastern end of the transect, particularly on the three sites within wandoo woodland. These trends were analysed in terms of rainfall, soil nutrients and plant community composition. The analysis failed to detect an underlying influence of any of these factors, suggesting that the observed trends on marri trunks may be the result of invertebrate responses to the dominant tree species at the western and eastern ends of the transect, namely jarrah and wandoo respectively

Competition, Resources And The Ant (hymenoptera: Formicidae) Mosaic: A Comparison Of Upper And Lower Canopy

A canopy crane was used to assess ant defensive behaviour and recruitment at baits in the Parque Natural Metropolitano, Panama. Sardine-honey baits were set within a grid of 25 paired upper and lower canopy points, for which coordinates and height were recorded. We tested the hypothesis that interactions in the ant mosaic become stronger as one moves from the lower to the upper canopy. We sampled 23 ant species, with Azteca (A. trigona, A. velox, Azteca nr. chartifex, and A. snellingi) being by far the most abundant genus, recruiting to 63% of baits and excluding all other ant genera. Camponotus (Myrmobrachys) sp. 1 also showed a statistically significant exclusion of other ant species over 95% of its occurrence. Cephalotes umbraculatus and Dolichoderus bispinosus had exclusive occurrences in smaller areas. Exclusion between dominant or subdominant species was more frequent in the upper than lower canopy. Permeable borders and territory-free spaces are important for ant species diversity, and were more frequent in the lower canopy. Here, a combination of more costly patrolling conditions and less profitable resources, such as extra-floral nectaries and trophobionts, may be the most likely cause of this pattern. 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Applying the ALL Protocol: Selected Case Studies

Fisher BL, Malsch A, Gadagkar R, Delabie JHC, Vaconcelos HL, Majer JD. Applying the ALL Protocol: Selected Case Studies. In: Agosti D, Majer J, Alonso E, Schultz TR, eds. Ants: Standard Methods for Measuring and Monitoring Biodiversity. Biological Diversity Handbook Series. Washington D.C: Smithsonian Institution Press; 2000: 207-214