Dominance-diversity relationships in ant communities differ with invasion

Arnan, Xavier, Andersen, Alan N., Gibb, Heloise, Parr, Catherine L., Sanders, Nathan J., Dunn, Robert R., Angulo, Elena, Baccaro, Fabricio b., Bishop, Tom R., Boulay, Raphaël, Castracani, Cristina, Cerdá, Xim, Del Toro, Israel, Delsinne, Thibaut, Donoso, David A., Elten, Emilie K., Fayle, Tom M., Fitzpatrick, Matthew, Gómez, Crisanto, Grasso, Donato A., Grossman, Blair F., Guénard, Benoit, Gunawardene, Nihara, Heterick, Brian, Hoffmann, Benjamin D., Janda, Milan, Jenkins, Clinton N., Klimes, Petr, Lach, Lori, Laeger, Thomas, Leponce, Maurice, Lucky, Andrea, Majer, Jonathan, Menke, Sean, Mezger, Dirk, Mori, Alessandra, Moses, Jimmy, Munyai, Thinandavha Caswell, Paknia, Omid, Pfeiffer, Martin, Philpott, Stacy M., De Souza, Jorge L.P., Tista, Melanie, Vasconcelos, Heraldo L., and Retana, Javier (2018) Dominance-diversity relationships in ant communities differ with invasion. Global Change Biology, 24 (10). pp. 4614-4625.

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Abstract

The relationship between levels of dominance and species richness is highly contentious, especially in ant communities. The dominance‐impoverishment rule states that high levels of dominance only occur in species‐poor communities, but there appear to be many cases of high levels of dominance in highly diverse communities. The extent to which dominant species limit local richness through competitive exclusion remains unclear, but such exclusion appears more apparent for non‐native rather than native dominant species. Here we perform the first global analysis of the relationship between behavioral dominance and species richness. We used data from 1,293 local assemblages of ground‐dwelling ants distributed across five continents to document the generality of the dominance‐impoverishment rule, and to identify the biotic and abiotic conditions under which it does and does not apply. We found that the behavioral dominance–diversity relationship varies greatly, and depends on whether dominant species are native or non‐native, whether dominance is considered as occurrence or relative abundance, and on variation in mean annual temperature. There were declines in diversity with increasing dominance in invaded communities, but diversity increased with increasing dominance in native communities. These patterns occur along the global temperature gradient. However, positive and negative relationships are strongest in the hottest sites. We also found that climate regulates the degree of behavioral dominance, but differently from how it shapes species richness. Our findings imply that, despite strong competitive interactions among ants, competitive exclusion is not a major driver of local richness in native ant communities. Although the dominance‐impoverishment rule applies to invaded communities, we propose an alternative dominance‐diversification rule for native communities.

Item ID: 54540
Item Type: Article (Research - C1)
ISSN: 1365-2486
Keywords: ants; behavioral dominance; coexistence; dominance-impoverishment rule; global scale; invasive species; precipitation; species richness; temperature
Funders: Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness (MINECO), Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Cientı´fico e Tecnolo´ gico (CNPq), Czech Science Foundation (CSF), European Research Council (ERC), Czech Academy of Sciences (CAS), German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD), Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado do Amazonas (FAMEAM)
Projects and Grants: MINECO Ramón y Cajal research contract RYC-2015-18448, CNPq PDS-167533/2013-4, CNPq PDS-165623/2015-2, CSF 14-36098G, ERC GA669609, CAS FNRS-17-04, CSF 16-09427S, DAAd D 10 00351, FAPEAM FIXAM/AM 032.01325/2014
Date Deposited: 16 Jul 2018 03:46
FoR Codes: 41 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES > 4102 Ecological applications > 410202 Biosecurity science and invasive species ecology @ 50%
31 BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES > 3103 Ecology > 310302 Community ecology (excl. invasive species ecology) @ 25%
31 BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES > 3109 Zoology > 310913 Invertebrate biology @ 25%
SEO Codes: 96 ENVIRONMENT > 9608 Flora, Fauna and Biodiversity > 960805 Flora, Fauna and Biodiversity at Regional or Larger Scales @ 100%
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