Knowledge Resource Center for Ecological Environment in Arid Area
DOI | 10.1002/ecs2.2344 |
Fire and plant invasion, but not rodents, alter ant community abundance and diversity in a semi-arid desert | |
Day, Joshua D.; Bishop, Tara B. B.; St Clair, Samuel B. | |
通讯作者 | St Clair, Samuel B. |
来源期刊 | ECOSPHERE
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ISSN | 2150-8925 |
出版年 | 2018 |
卷号 | 9期号:7 |
英文摘要 | Human activities are increasing the size, frequency, and severity of disturbance across earth’s ecosystems induding deserts. Ants are important drivers of ecosystem function and are good bioindicators of ecosystem sensitivity to disturbance and change. Rodents also play an important role in ecosystem response to disturbance and often compete with ants for resources. The purpose of our study was to test the main and interactive effects of fire, rodent activity, and time on ant forager abundance, species richness, and diversity, as well as changes in ant mound density and disk area in the Great Basin Desert. We experimentally applied burn and rodent exclusion treatments and used pitfall traps to collect ants each month from April through October from 2014 to 2016. Over the three-year period, burned areas had lower richness and diversity than unburned areas. Rodent exclusion had minimal effects on the ant community, and there was not a significant rodent exclusion interaction with fire. Treatment effects varied by month and year. The western harvester ant, Pogonomyrmex occidental is, was the most abundant ant species, comprising about 70% of the total ants captured. Shifts in ant diversity following fire were driven by positive responses of harvester ants to burned habitat conditions. In contrast, all other ant species when analyzed together had lower forager abundance in burned plots, which drove lower ant diversity in burned plots. Ant forager abundance, richness, and diversity increased each year of the study in all plots; however, richness and diversity remained lower in burned areas than in unburned areas each year. Structural equation modeling shows that the effects of fire on ant community diversity are partially mediated through the plant community. While rodents affected the plant community, those effects do not seem to transfer over to the ant community. Pogonomyrmex occidentalis mound density was higher in burned areas, but disk area was smaller. Our results suggest that fire has adverse effects on ant community diversity. This could have long-lasting effects on ecosystem function in the face of a changing fire regime in deserts of North America caused by invasive annual plants. |
英文关键词 | ants Bromus tectorum competition diversity fire Great Basin invasion rodents sagebrush |
类型 | Article |
语种 | 英语 |
国家 | USA |
收录类别 | SCI-E |
WOS记录号 | WOS:000441526900007 |
WOS关键词 | HARVESTER ANTS ; POGONOMYRMEX-OCCIDENTALIS ; HYMENOPTERA-FORMICIDAE ; BIOTIC RESISTANCE ; FORAGING BEHAVIOR ; SAGEBRUSH-STEPPE ; WESTERN USA ; VEGETATION ; DISTURBANCE ; SCALE |
WOS类目 | Ecology |
WOS研究方向 | Environmental Sciences & Ecology |
资源类型 | 期刊论文 |
条目标识符 | http://119.78.100.177/qdio/handle/2XILL650/208844 |
作者单位 | Brigham Young Univ, Dept Plant & Wildlife Sci, Provo, UT 84602 USA |
推荐引用方式 GB/T 7714 | Day, Joshua D.,Bishop, Tara B. B.,St Clair, Samuel B.. Fire and plant invasion, but not rodents, alter ant community abundance and diversity in a semi-arid desert[J],2018,9(7). |
APA | Day, Joshua D.,Bishop, Tara B. B.,&St Clair, Samuel B..(2018).Fire and plant invasion, but not rodents, alter ant community abundance and diversity in a semi-arid desert.ECOSPHERE,9(7). |
MLA | Day, Joshua D.,et al."Fire and plant invasion, but not rodents, alter ant community abundance and diversity in a semi-arid desert".ECOSPHERE 9.7(2018). |
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