Ant social foraging strategies along a Neotropical gradient of urbanization

During the last decades, urbanization has been highlighted as one of the main causes of biodiversity loss worldwide. Among organisms commonly associated with urban environments, ants occupy urbanized green areas and can live both inside and around human settlements. However, despite the increasing number of studies on the ecological dynamics of ant species developed mainly in temperate urban ecosystems, there is still little knowledge about the behavioral strategies that allow ant species to live and even thrive within cities. In this study, we evaluated the role of urbanization in shaping ant communities, including their social foraging, considering built cover as a gradually changing variable that describes an urban gradient. Specifically, we assessed whether species richness, composition, and the proportion of exotic ant species are related to an urban gradient in a medium-sized Neotropical city immersed in a cloud forest context in Mexico. Moreover, we evaluated the social foraging strategies that could promote ant species coexistence in an urban environment. In general, and contrary to our hypothesis, we found no evidence that the built cover gradient affected the richness, composition, or proportion of exotic ant species foraging on food resources, indicating a filtering and simplification of ant communities given by urbanization. Moreover, we show for the first time that urban ant species exhibited a "discovery-defense strategy", whereby the ant species with the greatest capacity to discover new food resources were those that showed the greatest ability to monopolize it after 120 min of observation, regardless of the type of resource (i.e., tuna or honey bait). Our findings have a direct impact on the knowledge about how urbanization shapes ant communities and behavior, by showing the foraging strategies of ant species that feed on similar food resources present that allows them to coexist in urban environments.Peer reviewe

The Geographic Distribution of Parasite-Induced Fruit Mimicry in Cephalotes atratus (Formicidae: Myrmicinae)

Parasite distributions fundamentally depend on the distributions of their hosts but may be more restricted than their hosts. Host-parasite symbioses tend to be spatially aggregated, and widely distributed host-parasite relationships are rare. Here, we combine field observations with published collection data to document the current known distribution of the nematode, Myrmeconema neotropicum, which infects the Neotropical canopy ant Cephalotes atratus. We report 6 new records from different Brazilian ecosystems, bringing the total number of independent observations of this interaction to 11. The broad distribution of these data points suggests that M. neotropicum infects C. atratus throughout its geographic range, although possible disturbance effects and specific habitat associations of the interaction remain unknown.Keywords: Host, Hymenoptera, Ants, Myrmeconema neotropicum, Rang

Overlapping Demyelinating Syndrome Associated With Myelin Oligodendrocyte Glycoprotein Antibody and Anti-n-Methyl-Daspartate Receptor Encephalitis

Anti-N-methyl-d-aspartate receptor encephalitis (NMDARe) traditionally presents with psychiatric or cognitive symptoms1. Myelin oligodendrocyte glycoprotein antibody associated disease (MOG-AD) usually presents with optic neuritis, but other phenotypes include longitudinally extensive transverse myelitis, encephalitis, acute disseminated encephalomyelitis, or brainstem encephalitis2. We present an interesting case of a young man who developed behavioral changes and vision loss, who was subsequently found to have overlapping NMDARe and MOG-AD

The role of sex and age in the architecture of intrapopulation howler monkey-plant networks in continuous and fragmented rain forests

We evaluated the structure of intrapopulation howler monkey-plant interactions by focusing on the plant species consumed by different sex and age classes in continuous and fragmented forests in southern Mexico. For this we used network analysis to evaluate the impact of fragmentation on howler population traits and on resource availability and food choice. A total of 37 tree and liana species and seven plant items (bark, immature fruits, flowers, mature fruits, immature leaves, mature leaves and petioles) were consumed, but their relative consumption varied according to sex and age classes and habitat type. Overall, adult females consumed the greatest number of plant species and items while infants and juveniles the lowest. For both continuous and fragmented forests, we found a nested diet for howler monkey-plant networks: diets of more selective monkeys represent subsets of the diets of other individuals. Nestedness was likely due to the high selectivity of early life stages in specific food plants and items, which contrasts with the generalized foraging behaviour of adults. Information on the extent to which different plant species and primate populations depend on such interactions in different habitats will help to make accurate predictions about the potential impact of disturbances on plant-animal interaction networks.This research was supported by grants from Consejo Nacional de Ciencia y Tecnología (CONACyT, CB2005-C01-51043, CB2007-79121 to JBM) and Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM, IN206111 to JBM). The Posgrado en Ciencias Biológicas (UNAM) and CONACyT are greatly acknowledged for providing a doctorate scholarship to AMG and UNAM for a post-doctoral scholarship to APM. This manuscript was partially written while JBM was on sabbatical at IMEDEA and supported by DGAPA (UNAM).Peer Reviewe

Influence of Cave Size and Presence of Bat Guano on Ant Visitation

This is the first study which evaluated the influence of cave size and presence of bat guano in ant visitation in Brazilian caves. We provide a list of the ants associated with 27 caves in northeastern Brazil, an area situated in the transition between Cerrado (Brazilian savanna) and Amazon Domain. The study was conducted between January and August 2010. We recorded 24 ant species inserted into 12 genera, 10 tribes, and six subfamilies. The size of the cave and the presence of guano did not influence the richness of ants, and most of the caves had single species. Camponotus atriceps was the species with the larger distribution, being collected in five caves. In addition, we discuss geographic distribution of records and possible ecological roles of ants in cave environments.CAPESCAPESFAPESP [2011/24160-1]FAPESPCNPq [381261/2011-5]CNP

Mirmecofauna em um fragmento de floresta atlântica urbana no município de Marília, Brasil

The aim of this study was to verify the influence of the habitat fragmentation on the Ant Fauna in an urban fragment of Semideciduous Seasonal Atlantic Forest located in the municipality of Marilia, São Paulo, Brazil. The studied fragment was divided into three environments in relation to edge: "Edge" (2m), "Transition" (30m) and "Interior" (90m). By using pitfalls traps and attractive baits there were done nine samples between November 2007 and February 2008. There were collected 3.873 individuals distributed into five subfamilies, 19 genera and 33 species. Five species were abundant on three studied environments: Ectatomma sp1, Mycocepurus goeldii, Paratrechina sp1, Pheidole sp2, Trachymyrmex sp1, Wasmannia auropunctata. The edge and transition environments presented the lower Simpsons diversity index and higher species dominance. However, it was observed little variation between these parameters between environments. Faunistic similarity between environments, expressed by Jaccard's similarity index showed high similarity between all studied environments. Because the studied site is an urban fragment, the similarity found between these areas can be related to habitat fragmentation process, an historical of constant anthropic perturbation and low local colonization rates. However, we suggest that a posteriori evaluation should be done with other arthropods groups like spiders and beetles in due to understand the changes that occur in urban fragments and support the choice of conservation and management actions in favor of this important forest remnant localized in urban area of Marilia, São Paulo, Brazil.O objetivo deste estudo foi verificar a influência da fragmentação urbana sob a mirmecofauna de uma Floresta Atlântica Estacional Semidecidual localizada no município de Marília/SP. Para isso, o fragmento foi dividido em três ambientes em relação à distância da borda, e adicionalmente denominados de Borda, Transição e Centro. Através de armadilhas pitfall e isca atrativa, foram realizadas nove coletas durante os meses de novembro de 2007 e fevereiro de 2008. No presente estudo, foram capturados 3.873 indivíduos, distribuídos em cinco subfamílias, 19 gêneros e 33 espécies. Cinco espécies foram comuns nos três ambientes estudados: Ectatomma sp1, Mycocepurus goeldii, Paratrechina sp1, Pheidole sp2, Trachymyrmex sp1, Wasmannia auropunctata. A borda do fragmento e o ambiente de transição apresentaram os menores Índice de Diversidade de Simpson e a maior dominância de espécies, entretanto, existe pouca variação entre esses aspectos avaliados e entre ambientes. A similaridade faunística entre os ambientes, calculados através do Índice de Similaridade de Sorensen, mostra uma alta similaridade entre todos os ambientes, sendo que as semelhanças encontradas entre as áreas podem estar relacionadas a fatores ligados ao processo da fragmentação, além do histórico de constantes perturbações antrópicas e baixa colonização no local, pois representa um fragmento urbano. Contudo, sugerimos que seja feita uma avaliação a posteriori com outros grupos de bioindicadores, permitindo o acompanhamento dessas alterações que ocorrem no local, subsidiando a escolha de medidas adequadas de manejo, visando a conservação desse importante remanescente florestal dentro da cidade de Marília, São Paulo

Neotropical freshwater fisheries : A dataset of occurrence and abundance of freshwater fishes in the Neotropics

The Neotropical region hosts 4225 freshwater fish species, ranking first among the world's most diverse regions for freshwater fishes. Our NEOTROPICAL FRESHWATER FISHES data set is the first to produce a large-scale Neotropical freshwater fish inventory, covering the entire Neotropical region from Mexico and the Caribbean in the north to the southern limits in Argentina, Paraguay, Chile, and Uruguay. We compiled 185,787 distribution records, with unique georeferenced coordinates, for the 4225 species, represented by occurrence and abundance data. The number of species for the most numerous orders are as follows: Characiformes (1289), Siluriformes (1384), Cichliformes (354), Cyprinodontiformes (245), and Gymnotiformes (135). The most recorded species was the characid Astyanax fasciatus (4696 records). We registered 116,802 distribution records for native species, compared to 1802 distribution records for nonnative species. The main aim of the NEOTROPICAL FRESHWATER FISHES data set was to make these occurrence and abundance data accessible for international researchers to develop ecological and macroecological studies, from local to regional scales, with focal fish species, families, or orders. We anticipate that the NEOTROPICAL FRESHWATER FISHES data set will be valuable for studies on a wide range of ecological processes, such as trophic cascades, fishery pressure, the effects of habitat loss and fragmentation, and the impacts of species invasion and climate change. There are no copyright restrictions on the data, and please cite this data paper when using the data in publications