Woody encroachment affects multiple dimensions of ant diversity in a neotropical savanna

Author:

Neves K.1ORCID,Santos B.2,Schultz T.3,Gotzek D.3,Abreu R. C. R.45ORCID,Durigan G.6,Vasconcelos H. L.1ORCID

Affiliation:

1. Instituto de Biologia, Universidade Federal Uberlândia (UFU) Uberlândia Minas Gerais Brazil

2. Institut de Systématique, Evolution, Biodiversité (ISYEB), Muséum national d'Histoire naturelle, CNRS, SU, EPHE, UA Paris Cedex France

3. Entomology Department, National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution Washington DC USA

4. Departamento de Ciências Ambientais (DCA), Instituto de Florestas (IF) Universidade Federal Rural do Rio de Janeiro (UFRRJ) Rio de Janeiro Brazil

5. Department of Plant and Microbial Biology North Carolina State University (NCSU) Raleigh North Carolina USA

6. Floresta Estadual de Assis, Instituto de Pesquisas Ambientais São Paulo Brazil

Abstract

Abstract Although savanna woody encroachment has become a global phenomenon, relatively little is known about its effects on multiple dimensions and levels of savanna biodiversity. Using a combination of field surveys, a species‐level phylogeny, and functional metrics drawn from a morphological dataset, we evaluated how the progressive increase in tree cover in a fire‐suppressed savanna landscape affects the taxonomic, functional, and phylogenetic diversity of neotropical ant communities, at both the alpha and beta levels. Ants were sampled along an extensive tree cover gradient, ranging from open savannas to forests established in former savanna areas. Variation in tree cover had a significant influence on all facets of diversity at the beta level, whereas at the alpha level tree cover variation affected the taxonomic and functional but not the phylogenetic diversity of the ant communities. In general, ant community responses to variation in tree cover were largely non‐linear as differences in taxonomic alpha diversity and in the taxonomic, functional, and phylogenetic composition of the sampled communities were often much stronger at the savanna/forest transition than at any other part of the gradient. This indicates that savanna ant communities switch rapidly to an alternative state once the savanna turns into forest. Ant communities in the newly formed forest areas lacked many of the species typical of the savanna habitats, suggesting that the maintenance of a fire suppression policy is likely to result in a decrease in ant diversity and in the homogenisation of the ant fauna at the landscape scale.

Funder

Brazilian National Council for Research and Development

National Science Foundation

Publisher

Wiley

Subject

Insect Science,Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics

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