Hoenle, Philipp O. ; Merkel, Christoph ; Donoso, David A. ; Argoti, Adriana A. ; Blüthgen, Nico ; Beeren, Christoph von (2024)
Hunting habits die hard: Conserved prey preferences in army ants across two distant neotropical rainforests.
In: Ecosphere, 2024, 15 (4)
doi: 10.26083/tuprints-00027102
Artikel, Zweitveröffentlichung, Verlagsversion
 | Es ist eine neuere Version dieses Eintrags verfügbar. |
Kurzbeschreibung (Abstract)
Army ants are widely recognized as keystone species in neotropical rainforests due to their role as important arthropod predators. Their large‐scale raids involve thousands of workers scouring the forest floor in pursuit of prey, primarily capturing other invertebrates. Up to 20 species of army ants coexist in a rainforest, and dietary niche differentiation has been proposed as a mechanism to alleviate competition among them. Based on only a handful of study sites, however, our understanding of the precise dietary preferences and the extent of niche differentiation remains notably limited. In this study, we aimed to expand our knowledge of army ant communities by resolving an Ecuadorian predation network consisting of 244 prey species and 13 army ant species representing the five known neotropical army ant genera: Cheliomyrmex, Eciton, Labidus, Neivamyrmex, and Nomamyrmex. We collected 2156 prey items from 180 army ant raids/emigrations, and of these, we identified 1945 prey items to the family level, 1313 to the genus level, and 664 to the species level based on morphological identifications and DNA barcodes. Prey consisted primarily of other ants (1843 prey items; 153 ant species), to the largest part ant brood (N = 1726). Hence, most army ant species chiefly plundered the nests of other ants, while the three swarm raiding species, that is, Lab. praedator, Lab. spininodis, and Ec. burchellii, exhibited a relatively high proportion of non‐ant invertebrate prey in their diet. The predation network showed a high degree of specialization (H2′ = 0.65), characterized by little dietary niche overlap among sympatric species. We compared the Ecuadorian network with one previously studied in Costa Rica and found that, despite the large geographic distance, prey preferences remained remarkably similar. We discovered species‐specific preferences for captured ant genera and species, despite some species turnover in both army ants and prey. Additionally, army ants also exhibited consistent spatiotemporal raiding preferences across study sites. In conclusion, predation preferences within army ant communities exhibited consistency in multiple niche dimensions across two distant neotropical rainforests, suggesting a notable level of predictability within army ant predation networks.
| Typ des Eintrags: | Artikel |
|---|---|
| Erschienen: | 2024 |
| Autor(en): | Hoenle, Philipp O. ; Merkel, Christoph ; Donoso, David A. ; Argoti, Adriana A. ; Blüthgen, Nico ; Beeren, Christoph von |
| Art des Eintrags: | Zweitveröffentlichung |
| Titel: | Hunting habits die hard: Conserved prey preferences in army ants across two distant neotropical rainforests |
| Sprache: | Englisch |
| Publikationsjahr: | 18 Juni 2024 |
| Ort: | Darmstadt |
| Publikationsdatum der Erstveröffentlichung: | April 2024 |
| Ort der Erstveröffentlichung: | Ithaca |
| Verlag: | Wiley |
| Titel der Zeitschrift, Zeitung oder Schriftenreihe: | Ecosphere |
| Jahrgang/Volume einer Zeitschrift: | 15 |
| (Heft-)Nummer: | 4 |
| Kollation: | 26 Seiten |
| DOI: | 10.26083/tuprints-00027102 |
| URL / URN: | https://tuprints.ulb.tu-darmstadt.de/27102 |
| Zugehörige Links: | |
| Herkunft: | Zweitveröffentlichung DeepGreen |
| Kurzbeschreibung (Abstract): | Army ants are widely recognized as keystone species in neotropical rainforests due to their role as important arthropod predators. Their large‐scale raids involve thousands of workers scouring the forest floor in pursuit of prey, primarily capturing other invertebrates. Up to 20 species of army ants coexist in a rainforest, and dietary niche differentiation has been proposed as a mechanism to alleviate competition among them. Based on only a handful of study sites, however, our understanding of the precise dietary preferences and the extent of niche differentiation remains notably limited. In this study, we aimed to expand our knowledge of army ant communities by resolving an Ecuadorian predation network consisting of 244 prey species and 13 army ant species representing the five known neotropical army ant genera: Cheliomyrmex, Eciton, Labidus, Neivamyrmex, and Nomamyrmex. We collected 2156 prey items from 180 army ant raids/emigrations, and of these, we identified 1945 prey items to the family level, 1313 to the genus level, and 664 to the species level based on morphological identifications and DNA barcodes. Prey consisted primarily of other ants (1843 prey items; 153 ant species), to the largest part ant brood (N = 1726). Hence, most army ant species chiefly plundered the nests of other ants, while the three swarm raiding species, that is, Lab. praedator, Lab. spininodis, and Ec. burchellii, exhibited a relatively high proportion of non‐ant invertebrate prey in their diet. The predation network showed a high degree of specialization (H2′ = 0.65), characterized by little dietary niche overlap among sympatric species. We compared the Ecuadorian network with one previously studied in Costa Rica and found that, despite the large geographic distance, prey preferences remained remarkably similar. We discovered species‐specific preferences for captured ant genera and species, despite some species turnover in both army ants and prey. Additionally, army ants also exhibited consistent spatiotemporal raiding preferences across study sites. In conclusion, predation preferences within army ant communities exhibited consistency in multiple niche dimensions across two distant neotropical rainforests, suggesting a notable level of predictability within army ant predation networks. |
| Freie Schlagworte: | army ant, Canandé, Costa Rica, Eciton, Ecuador, food web, predator–prey network |
| ID-Nummer: | Artikel-ID: e4812 |
| Status: | Verlagsversion |
| URN: | urn:nbn:de:tuda-tuprints-271021 |
| Sachgruppe der Dewey Dezimalklassifikatin (DDC): | 500 Naturwissenschaften und Mathematik > 570 Biowissenschaften, Biologie 500 Naturwissenschaften und Mathematik > 590 Tiere (Zoologie) |
| Fachbereich(e)/-gebiet(e): | 10 Fachbereich Biologie 10 Fachbereich Biologie > Ecological Networks |
| Hinterlegungsdatum: | 18 Jun 2024 12:56 |
| Letzte Änderung: | 19 Jun 2024 09:02 |
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| Suche nach Titel in: | TUfind oder in Google |
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