Ecosystem engineering and predation: The multi-trophic impact of two ant species

Journal of Animal Ecology

Volumn 80, Issue 3, 2011, Pages 569-576

  Sanders, Dirk ^a   van Veen, F J Frank ^a  

^a UNIVERSITY OF EXETER   (United Kingdom)

Author keywords

Below above ground; Ecosystem function; Facilitation; Nontrophic interactions; Physical environment; Trait mediated; Trophic cascade

Indexed keywords

ABUNDANCE; ANT; COLONY STRUCTURE; ECOSYSTEM ENGINEERING; ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT; EXPERIMENTAL STUDY; FACILITATION; FIELD METHOD; FOOD WEB; GRASSLAND; HERBIVORE; NEOTROPICAL REGION; PARASITOID; POPULATION DENSITY; PREDATION; PREDATOR-PREY INTERACTION; SOIL TYPE; SPECIES DIVERSITY; SPECIES RICHNESS; SPIDER; TERRESTRIAL ENVIRONMENT; TERRITORIALITY; TROPHIC LEVEL;

ANIMAL; ANT; ARTHROPOD; ARTICLE; BIODIVERSITY; ECOSYSTEM; FOOD CHAIN; GERMANY; POPULATION DENSITY; PREDATION; SOIL; SPIDER;

ANIMALS; ANTS; ARTHROPODS; BIODIVERSITY; ECOSYSTEM; FOOD CHAIN; GERMANY; POPULATION DENSITY; PREDATORY BEHAVIOR; SOIL; SPIDERS;

CENTRAL EUROPE;

ARANEAE; ARTHROPODA; BRACONIDAE; FORMICIDAE; LASIUS NIGER; MYRMICA RUBRA;

EID: 79953316177     PISSN: 00218790     EISSN: 13652656     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1111/j.1365-2656.2010.01796.x     Document Type: Article

References (51)

1. Albert, M.J., Escudero, A. & Iriondo, J.M. (2005) Assessing ant seed predation in threatened plants: a case study. Acta Oecologica, 28, 213-220.
2. Bartlett, B.R. (1961) The influence of ants upon parasites, predators, and scale insects. Annals of the Entomological Society of America, 54, 543-551.
3. Beckerman, A.P., Uriarte, M. & Schmitz, O.J. (1997) Experimental evidence for a behavior-mediated trophic cascade in a terrestrial food chain. Proceedings of the National Academy of Science USA, 94, 10735-10738.
4. Bertness, M.D. & Leonard, G.H. (1997) The role of positive interactions in communities: lessons from intertidal habitats. Ecology, 78, 1976-1989.
5. Boulton, A.M. & Amberman, K.D. (2006) How ant nests increase soil biota richness and abundance: a field experiment. Biodiversity and Conservation, 15, 69-82.
6. Bravo, L.G., Belliure, J. & Rebollo, S. (2009) European rabbits as ecosystem engineers: warrens increase lizard density and diversity. Biodiversity and Conservation, 18, 869-885.
7. Chong, C.S., D'Alberto, C.F., Thomson, L.J. & Hoffmann, A.A. (2010) Influence of native ants on arthropod communities in a vineyard. Agricultural and Forest Entomology, 12, 223-232.
8. Crawley, M.J.C. (2007) The R book. John Wiley and Sons, Chichester, UK.
9. Crooks, J.A. (2002) Characterizing ecosystem-level consequences of biological invasions: the role of ecosystem engineers. Oikos, 97, 153-166.
10. Dauber, J. & Wolters, V. (2000) Microbial activity and functional diversity in the mounds of three different ant species. Soil Biology and Biochemistry, 32, 93-99.
11. Dauber, J., Niechoj, R., Baltruschat, H. & Wolters, V. (2008) Soil engineering ants increase grass root arbuscular mycorrhizal colonization. Biology and Fertility of Soils, 44, 791-796.
12. Dostál, P., Březnová, M., Kozlíčková, V., Herbena, T. & Kovář, P. (2005) Ant-induced soil modification and its effect on plant below-ground biomass. Pedobiologia, 49, 127-137.
13. Folgarait, P. (1998) Ant biodiversity and its relationship to ecosystem functioning: a review. Biodiversity and Conservation, 7, 1221-1244.
14. Friese, C. & Allen, M. (1993) The interaction of harvester ants and vesicular-arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi in a patchy semi-arid environment: the effects of mound structure on fungal dispersion and establishment. Functional Ecology, 7, 13-20.
15. Frouz, J., Holec, M. & Kalčík, J. (2003) The effect of Lasius niger (Hymenoptera, Formicidae) ant nest on selected soil chemical properties. Pedobiologia, 47, 205-212.
16. Halaj, J., Ross, D.W. & Moldenke, A.R. (1997) Negative effects of ant foraging on spiders in Douglas-fir canopies. Oecologia, 109, 313-322.
17. Hole, F.D. (1981) Effects of animals on soil. Geoderma, 25, 75-112.
18. Hübner, G. & Völkl, W. (1996) Behavioral strategies of aphid hyperparasitoids to escape aggression by honeydewcollecting ants. Journal of Insect Behavior, 9, 143-157.
19. Itioka, T. & Inoue, T. (1996) The consequences of ant-attendance to the biological control of the red wax scale insect Ceroplastes rubens by Anicetus beneficus. Journal of Applied Ecology, 33, 609-618.
20. Jones, C.G., Lawton, J.H. & Shachak, M. (1994) Organisms as ecosystem engineers. Oikos, 69, 373-386.
21. Jones, C.G., Lawton, J.H. & Shachak, M. (1997) Positive and negative effects of organisms as physical ecosystem engineers. Ecology, 78, 1946-1957.
22. Kajak, A., Breymeyer, A., Petal, J. & Olechowicz, E. (1972) The influence of ants on the meadow invertebrates. Ekologia Polska, 20, 163-171.
23. Karhu, K.J. (1998) Effects of ant exclusion during outbreaks of a defoliator and a sap-sucker on birch. Ecological Entomology, 23, 185-194.
24. Lane, D.R. & BassiriRad, H. (2005) Diminishing effects of ant mounds on soil heterogeneity across a chronosequence of prairie restoration sites. Pedobiologia, 49, 359-366.
25. Lavelle, P., Bignell, D., Lepage, M., Wolters, V., Roger, P., Ineson, P., Heal, O.W. & Dhillion, S. (1997) Soil functions in a changing world: the role of invertebrate ecosystem engineers. European Journal of Soil Biology, 33, 159-193.
26. Lenoir, L. (2003) Response of the foraging behaviour of red wood ants (Formica rufa group) to exclusion from trees. Agricultural and Forest Entomology, 5, 183-189.
27. Lipkow, E. (1965) Braconiden als Schmarotzer von Staphyliniden. Entomophaga, 10, 377-381.
28. Moja-Laraño, J. & Wise, D.H. (2007) Direct and indirect effects of ants on a forest-floor food web. Ecology, 88, 1454-1465.
29. Mueller, C.B. & Godfray, H.C.J. (1999) Predators and mutualists influence the exclusion of aphid species from natural communities. Oecologia, 119, 120-125.
30. Nkem, J.N., Lobry de Bruyn, L.A., Grant, C.D. & Hulugale, N.R. (2000) The impact of ant bioturbation and foraging activities on surrounding soil properties. Pedobiologia, 44, 609-621.
31. Pinheiro, J. & Bates, D.M. (2000) Mixed effects models in S and S-plus. Springer, New York.
32. Pinheiro, J., Bates, D., DebRoy, S. & Sarkar, D. & the R Core team (2009). nlme: Linear and Nonlinear Mixed Effects Models. R package version 3.1-96.
33. Piñol, J., Espadaler, X., Cañellas, N., Martinez-Vilalta, J.M., Barriento, J. & Sol, D. (2010) Ant versus bird exclusion effects on the arthropod assemblage of an organic citrus grove. Ecological Entomology, 35, 367-376.
34. Platner, C. (2006) Ameisen als Schlüsseltiere in einem Grasland - Studien zu ihrer Bedeutung für die Tiergemeinschaft, das Nahrungsnetz und das Ökosystem. Biodiversity and ecology series 1. Universitätsverlag Göttingen, Göttingen, Germany.
35. R Development Core Team (2009) R: a language and environment for statistical computing. R Foundation for Statistical Computing, Vienna, Austria. ISBN 3-900051-07-0, URL.
36. Reznikova, Z.I. & Panteleeva, S.N. (2001) Interaction of the ants Myrmica rubra L. as a predator with springtails (Collembola) as a mass prey. Doklady Biological Sciences, 380, 475-477.
37. Rodriguez, J., Calle, Z. & Montoya-Lerma, J. (2008) Herbivory of Atta cephalotes (Hymenoptera: Myrmicinae) on three plant substrates. Revista Colombiana de Entomologia, 34, 156-162.
38. Sanders, D. & Entling, M.H. (in press) Large variation of suction sampling efficiency depending on arthropod groups, species traits, and habitat properties. Entomologia Experimentalis et Applicata, doi:.
39. Sanders, D. & Platner, C. (2007) Intraguild interactions between spiders and ants and top-down control in a dry grassland. Oecologia, 150, 611-624.
40. Sanders, D., Schaefer, M., Platner, C. & Griffiths, G.J.K. (in press) Intraguild interactions among generalist predator functional groups drive impact on herbivore and decomposer prey. Oikos, doi.
41. Schuch, S., Platner, C. & Sanders, D. (2008) Potential positive effect of the ant species Lasius niger on linyphiid spiders. Journal of Applied Entomology, 132, 375-381.
42. Seifert, B. (2007) Die Ameisen Mittel- und Nordeuropas. Lutra, Görlitz/Tauer.
43. Shaw, M.R. & Huddleston, T. (1991) Classification and biology of braconid wasps (Hymenoptera: Braconidae). Royal Entomological Society of London - Handbooks for the identification of British insects, Vol. 7, Part 11.
44. Stachowicz, J.J. (2001) Mutualism, facilitation, and the structure of ecological communities. BioScience, 51, 235-246.
45. Stadler, B. & Dixon, A.F.G. (2005) Ecology and evolution of aphid- ant interactions. Annual Review of Ecology, Evolution, and Systematics, 36, 345-372.
46. Stechmann, D.H., Völkl, W. & Starý, P. (1996) Ant-attendance as a critical factor in the biological control of the banana aphid Pentalonia nigronervosa Coq. (Hom. Aphididae) in Oceania. Journal of Applied Entomology, 120, 119-123.
47. Völkl, W. & Mackauer, M. (1993) Interactions between ants attending Aphis fabae spp. cirsiiacanthoidis on thistles and foraging parasitoid wasps. Journal of Insect Behavior, 6, 301-312.
48. Whitford, W. (1996) The importance of the biodiversity of soil biota in arid ecosystems. Biodiversity and Conservation, 5, 185-195.
49. Wilby, A., Shachak, M. & Boeken, B. (2001) Integration of ecosystem engineering and trophic effects of herbivores. Oikos, 92, 436-444.
50. Wright, J.P. & Jones, C.G. (2004) Predicting effects of ecosystem engineers on patch-scale species richness from primary productivity. Ecology, 85, 2071-2081.
51. Zhang, Y.X., Richardson, J.S. & Negishi, J.N. (2004) Detritus processing, ecosystem engineering and benthic diversity: a test of predator-omnivore interference. Journal of Animal Ecology, 73, 756-766.