A tale of scale: Plot but not neighbourhood tree diversity increases leaf litter ant diversity

Research output: Journal contributionsJournal articlesResearchpeer-review

Authors

Diversity of producers (e.g. plants) usually increases the diversity of associated organisms, but the scale (i.e. the spatial area of plant diversity considered) at which plant diversity acts on other taxa has rarely been studied. Most evidence for cross-taxon diversity relations come from above-ground consumers that directly interact with plants. Experimental tests of plant diversity effects on elusive organisms inhabiting the leaf litter layer, which are important for nutrient cycling and decomposition, are rare. Using a large tree diversity experiment, we tested whether tree diversity at the larger plot (i.e. community) or the smaller neighbourhood scale relates to the abundance, species richness, functional and phylogenetic diversity of leaf litter ants, which are dominant organisms in brown food webs. Contrary to our expectations of scale-independent positive tree diversity effects, ant diversity increased only with plot but not neighbourhood tree diversity. While the exact causal mechanisms are unclear, nest relocation or small-scale competition among ants may explain the stronger tree diversity effects at the plot scale. Our results indicate that even for small and less mobile organisms in the leaf litter, effects of tree diversity are stronger at relatively larger scales. The finding emphasizes the importance of diverse forest stands, in which mixing of tree species is not restricted to small patches, for supporting arthropod diversity in the leaf litter.

Original languageEnglish
JournalJournal of Animal Ecology
Volume89
Issue number2
Pages (from-to)299-308
Number of pages10
ISSN0021-8790
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 01.02.2020

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
We thank B. Schmid and K. Ma for help establishing the BEF-China experiment, X. Yang, S. Both, X. Liu and Y. Bo for coordination, and C. Lin for logistical support. Discussions with G. Pufal improved the text. G. Fischer and F. Hita Garcia checked identifications in taxonomically ambiguous ant genera. The final manuscript benefited from constructive suggestions by the Associate Editor Jean-Philippe Lessard, D. Donoso and an anonymous reviewer. This study was funded by the German Research Foundation (FOR 891/3, KL 1849/6-2) and the Sino-German Centre for Research Promotion (GZ 785).

Publisher Copyright:
© 2019 The Authors. Journal of Animal Ecology published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of British Ecological Society.

    Research areas

  • Ecosystems Research - ant functional traits, biodiversity–ecosystem functioning, iodiversity–ecosystem functioning‐China, forests, Formicidae, phylogenetic diversity, Species richness

Documents

DOI

Recently viewed

Publications

  1. Modelling of a servo piezo mechanical hydraulic actuator and its feed-forward control
  2. Motion-decoupled internal force control in grasping with visco-elastic contacts
  3. Conception of an indirectly controlled servo valve for IC engine valve position control
  4. The Lotka-Volterra Model for Competition Controlled by a Sliding Mode Approach
  5. Impact assessment of emissions stabilization scenarios with and without induced technological change
  6. Simulation of composite hot extrusion with high reinforcing Volumes
  7. Online Network Impedance Identification with Wave-Package and Inter-Harmonic Signals
  8. The relationship between values and knowledge in visioning for landscape management
  9. Bifurcation loads of beams of glued-laminated timber with intermediate lateral supports
  10. Wie lang sollte eine Rollstuhlrampe sein?
  11. The differential effects of self-view in virtual meetings when speaking vs. listening
  12. Noninteracting force/motion control of defective manipulation systems
  13. Comparing marginal effects between different models and/or samples
  14. A Unified Contextual Bandit Framework for Long- and Short-Term Recommendations
  15. A switching observer for sensorless control of an electromagnetic valve actuator for camless internal combustion engines
  16. From stories to maps
  17. Sense of Place in Spatial Planning
  18. Solution for the direct kinematics problem of the general stewart-gough platform by using only linear actuators’ orientations
  19. CETUS – a baseline approach to type extraction
  20. Imitation and interindividual differences
  21. Frame-based Optimal Design
  22. Control of geometry deviation by stiffness variation in polymer deep drawing tools
  23. Comparative study of resonant circuit for power transmission via inductive link
  24. Non-invasive approaches for phenotyping of enhanced performance traits in bean
  25. Investigation of the utilization of oat pomace and acid whey in technical scale succinic acid fermentation including downstream processing
  26. Assessing mire-specific biodiversity with an indicator based approach
  27. The interaction of ecological norm orientation and external factors in the domain of travel mode choice behavior
  28. Facilitating collaborative processes in transdisciplinary research using design prototyping
  29. 3D characterization of beta-phases in AZ91D by synchrotron-radiation based microtomography
  30. Experimental and numerical analysis of material flow in porthole die extrusion
  31. Testing for Economies of Scope in European Railways
  32. Bifurcation loads of circular curved beams of glued-laminated timber with continuous lateral support
  33. Effects of different video- or text-based reflection stimuli on pre-service teachers’ emotions, immersion, cognitive load and knowledge-based reasoning
  34. Cognitive performance limitations in operating rooms
  35. Current and New Research Perspectives on Dynamic Facial Emotion Detection in Emotional Interface
  36. Consumer response to monochrome Guideline Daily Amount nutrition labels
  37. Non-destructive transmissive inductive thickness sensor for IoT applications
  38. Functional trait similarity of native and invasive herb species in subtropical China-Environment-specific differences are the key
  39. In situ synchrotron diffraction of the solidification of Mg-RE alloys
  40. MICSIM: Concept, Developments, and Applications of a PC Microsimulation Model for Research and Teaching
  41. UAV remote laser scanner improvement by continuous scanning using DC motors
  42. Decoding evidence-based entrepreneurship
  43. Microstructure and corrosion of AZ91 with small amounts of cerium
  44. Tree species and functional traits but not species richness affect interrill erosion processes in young subtropical forests
  45. Geometric control tools for robotic manipulators
  46. A Dual Kalman Filter to Identify Parameters of a Permanent Magnet Synchronous Motor