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Foraging activity of leaf‐cutting ants changes light availability and plant assemblage in A tlantic forest
Author(s) -
CORRÊA MICHELE M.,
SILVA PAULO S. D.,
WIRTH RAINER,
TABARELLI MARCELO,
LEAL INARA R.
Publication year - 2016
Publication title -
ecological entomology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.865
H-Index - 81
eISSN - 1365-2311
pISSN - 0307-6946
DOI - 10.1111/een.12312
Subject(s) - foraging , ecology , biology , species richness , ecosystem , trophic level , canopy , vegetation (pathology) , abundance (ecology) , forest ecology , medicine , pathology
1. Leaf‐cutting ants ( LCA s) have often been denoted as ecosystem engineers because of their multifarious effects on the vegetation, particularly via nest‐driven environmental changes. However, the non‐trophic impacts of LCA s on forest dynamics via foliage harvesting across sizeable foraging zones (so‐called associated ecosystem engineering) are still poorly investigated. 2. Here, light availability and sapling assemblages were assessed within foraging areas and ant‐free control zones of 16 A tta cephalotes colonies located in a large remnant of A tlantic forest in northeastern B razil. 3. Canopy openness and total light transmission were 1.4 and 1.6 times higher in foraging zones than in control areas. In parallel, sapling density and species richness decreased constantly from control to foraging zone plots. Additionally, shade‐tolerant species exhibited reduced abundance across foraging zones. A non‐metric multidimensional scaling ordination based on taxonomic similarity primarily segregated foraging zone and control plots; foraging zone plots converged to be more similar to each other as well. Finally, some plant species emerged as indicators of LCA ‐free zones. 4. These results suggest that LCA foraging activity in the forest canopy directly increases the light availability and indirectly affects the recruitment and the structure of local plant assemblages. 5. Such a biologically significant effect on the light environment and its cascades confirms LCA s as potent ecosystem engineers, particularly as a plant assembly force, which operates beyond the spatial reach of their well‐described nest effects.