How do patch burnings affect ant communities and seed removal in a subtropical grassland?

被引:0
作者
Barbosa, Gabriel Goncalves [1 ]
Ferrando, Claire Pauline Ropke [1 ]
Mendonca Jr, Milton de Souza [1 ]
Podgaiski, Luciana Regina [1 ]
机构
[1] Univ Fed Rio Grande do Sul, Dept Ecol, Lab Ecol Interacoes, Ave Bento Goncalves 9500, BR-91540000 Porto Alegre, RS, Brazil
关键词
Fire effect; Resource removal; Ant body size; Disturbances; Campos Sulinos; SIZE-GRAIN HYPOTHESIS; HABITAT STRUCTURE; RAIN-FOREST; BODY-SIZE; FIRE; BIODIVERSITY; SAVANNA; ASSEMBLAGES; COMPLEXITY; DISPERSAL;
D O I
10.1016/j.pecon.2022.07.002
中图分类号
X176 [生物多样性保护];
学科分类号
090705 ;
摘要
Disturbances modify local abiotic properties, habitat structure and resource availability, shaping community assembly and ecological interactions. Open ecosystems have an evolutionary relationship with fire. We evaluated the effects of patch burnings on grassland ant communities and patterns of seed removal. We established 14 plots of 10 m2 in pairs in a disturbance-suppressed grassland in South Brazil. A random plot of each pair was burned, and another plot was the control. We accessed ant communities with pitfall-traps and sweeping net, and seed removal with seed traps in all plots prior the experimental fires, and then on three occasions following fires. We recorded 57 ant species belonging to 29 genera. Ant species composition did not significantly vary between treatments neither did ant body size. We detected significantly positive fire effects on ant richness after 1 month and 12 months, mediated by the increase in plant species richness in burned plots. Mean seed removal rates were increased in burned plots after 1 month. We showed that prescribed patch burnings in fire-prone grasslands promoted ant richness, and their foraging activity. Our study may serve as a basis for conservation decisions, showing the importance of maintenance of disturbances in grasslands. (c) 2022 Associacao Brasileira de Ciencia Ecol ogica e Conservacao. Published by Elsevier B.V. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ ).
引用
收藏
页码:322 / 329
页数:8
相关论文
共 72 条
[1]   The biodiversity cost of carbon sequestration in tropical savanna [J].
Abreu, Rodolfo C. R. ;
Hoffmann, William A. ;
Vasconcelos, Heraldo L. ;
Pilon, Natashi A. ;
Rossatto, Davi R. ;
Durigan, Giselda .
SCIENCE ADVANCES, 2017, 3 (08)
[2]   Responses of ant communities to disturbance: Five principles for understanding the disturbance dynamics of a globally dominant faunal group [J].
Andersen, Alan N. .
JOURNAL OF ANIMAL ECOLOGY, 2019, 88 (03) :350-362
[3]   Burning for biodiversity: highly resilient ant communities respond only to strongly contrasting fire regimes in Australia's seasonal tropics [J].
Andersen, Alan N. ;
Ribbons, Relena R. ;
Pettit, Magen ;
Parr, Catherine L. .
JOURNAL OF APPLIED ECOLOGY, 2014, 51 (05) :1406-1413
[4]  
[Anonymous], 2018, R PACKAGE VERSION
[5]  
[Anonymous], Secretaria da Agricultura, Pecuaria e Agronegocio
[6]   Post-fire recovery of Mediterranean ground ant communities follows vegetation and dryness gradients [J].
Arnan, Xavier ;
Rodrigo, Anselm ;
Retana, Javier .
JOURNAL OF BIOGEOGRAPHY, 2006, 33 (07) :1246-1258
[7]   The role of fire disturbance on habitat structure and bird communities in South Brazilian Highland Grasslands [J].
Beal-Neves, Mariana ;
Chiarani, Eduardo ;
Abreu Ferreira, Pedro Maria ;
Fontana, Carla Suertegaray .
SCIENTIFIC REPORTS, 2020, 10 (01)
[8]   Interactions between ants and seeds of two myrmecochorous plant species in recently burnt and long-unburnt forest sites [J].
Beaumont, Kieren P. ;
Mackay, Duncan A. ;
Whalen, Molly A. .
AUSTRAL ECOLOGY, 2011, 36 (07) :767-778
[9]   The effect of fire on ant assemblages does not depend on habitat openness but does select for large, gracile predators [J].
Bishop, Tom R. ;
Tomlinson, Andy ;
McNeice, Travers ;
Sfenthourakis, Spyros ;
Parr, Catherine L. .
ECOSPHERE, 2021, 12 (06)
[10]   Fire as a global 'herbivore': the ecology and evolution of flammable ecosystems [J].
Bond, WJ ;
Keeley, JE .
TRENDS IN ECOLOGY & EVOLUTION, 2005, 20 (07) :387-394