Abstract
Abstract Background Disturbance is one of the main causes for determining diversity of natural communities. A 3-year (2003 to 2005) monitoring of ant communities at a Long-Term Ecological Research (LTER) site in South Korea revealed a drop of ant diversity due to a forest disturbance which was evidenced by decrease of leaf area index (LAI) associated with the dropping of tree branches. In order to determine the process of the decrease in diversity, we compared the annual change of functional ant guilds, which are composed of forest ground foragers (FGF), forest vegetation foragers (FVF), soil and litter dwellers (SLD), and open-land foragers (OF). Results Four functional guilds of ants responded differently to the forest disturbance; FGF and SLD decreased, but OF and FVF increased. Species richness decreased, due to the decrease in SLD, and species evenness decreased mainly due to a sudden increase in an OF species, Formica japonica. Based on these findings, a mechanism is proposed for the decrease in ant diversity after the forest disturbance. Conclusions Ant communities responded significantly to even a slight forest disturbance of branch dropping with decrease in diversity and change in functional guild structures.
Highlights
Disturbance is one of the main causes for determining diversity of natural communities
In tropical rainforests and coral reefs, disturbance decreases the dominance of few abundant species in stable ecosystems, and it gives a chance for the coexistence of various subordinate species, resulting in the highest diversity occurring in the intermediate disturbance (Connell 1978)
In 2003, only one tree was dead at the study site (T-SK, unpublished data), and thinned crown layer, rather than gap formations, might be related to the decrease of leaf area index (LAI)
Summary
Disturbance is one of the main causes for determining diversity of natural communities. In tropical rainforests and coral reefs, disturbance decreases the dominance of few abundant species in stable ecosystems, and it gives a chance for the coexistence of various subordinate species, resulting in the highest diversity occurring in the intermediate disturbance (Connell 1978). Nonequilibrium states are created by various types of disturbance (Connell 1978; Hobbs and Huenneke 1992). Ants play important roles as predators, herbivores, scavengers, and seed dispersers in forest ecosystems (Hölldobler and Wilson 1990; de Bruyn 1999). Ants play ecological roles in maintaining soil condition and quality, increasing forest productivity and keeping agroecosystems ventilated (Hölldobler and Wilson 1990; de Bruyn 1999; Agosti et al 2000). Ants respond quickly to forest disturbances of various types, e.g., livestock grazing (Nash et al 2004), tree cutting (Zettler et al 2004), fire (Andersen 1991), mining and farming (Majer 1983), and forest management
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