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Scavenging in two mountain ecosystems: Distinctive contribution of ants in grassland and non-ant invertebrates in forest.
Fernandes, Tiago Vinícius; Parr, Catherine L; Campos, Ricardo Ildefonso; Neves, Frederico de Siqueira; Solar, Ricardo.
Afiliação
  • Fernandes TV; Programa de Pós-Graduação em Biologia Animal, Universidade Federal do Vale do Jequitinhonha e Mucuri, Diamantina, Brazil.
  • Parr CL; Programa de Pós-Graduação em Ecologia, Conservação e Manejo da Vida Silvestre, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, Instituto de Ciências Biológicas, Belo Horizonte, Brazil.
  • Campos RI; Departamento de Genética, Ecologia e Evolução, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, Belo Horizonte, Brazil.
  • Neves FS; School of Environmental Sciences, The University of Liverpool, Liverpool, UK.
  • Solar R; School of Animal, Plant and Environmental Sciences, University of the Witwatersrand, Wits, South Africa.
Ecology ; 105(8): e4365, 2024 Aug.
Article em En | MEDLINE | ID: mdl-38895926
ABSTRACT
Scavenging is a key process for the cycling of nutrients in ecosystems, yet it is still neglected in the ecological literature. Apart from the importance of specific groups of animals in scavenging, there have been few ecological studies that compare them. Furthermore, the ecological studies on scavenging have mainly focused on vertebrates despite the crucial importance of invertebrates in this process. Here, we performed a large-scale ant suppression and vertebrate exclusion experiment to quantify the relative contribution of ants, non-ant invertebrates and vertebrates in scavenging nitrogen-rich (insect carcasses) and carbon-rich (seeds) baits in two contrasting mountainous habitats in Brazil (grasslands and forests). Overall, bait removal was 23.2% higher in forests than in grasslands. Ants were the primary scavengers in grasslands, responsible for more than 57% of dead insect larvae and seed removal, while, in forests, non-ant invertebrates dominated, removing nearly 65% of all baits. Vertebrates had a minor role in scavenging dead insect larvae and seeds in both habitats, with <4% of removals. Furthermore, our results show that animal-based baits were more consumed in forests than seeds, and both resources were equally consumed in grasslands. Therefore, we demonstrate the superiority of invertebrates in this process, with a particular emphasis on the irreplaceable role of ants, especially in this grassland ecosystem. As such, we further advance our knowledge of a key ecosystem process, showing the relative importance of three major groups in scavenging and the differences in ecosystems functioning between two contrasting tropical habitats.
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Texto completo: 1 Coleções: 01-internacional Base de dados: MEDLINE Assunto principal: Formigas / Florestas / Pradaria / Invertebrados Limite: Animals País/Região como assunto: America do sul / Brasil Idioma: En Revista: Ecology Ano de publicação: 2024 Tipo de documento: Article País de afiliação: Brasil País de publicação: Estados Unidos
Texto completo
Adicionar na Minha BVS
Imprimir
XML
PubMed Links
Buscar no Google

Texto completo: 1 Coleções: 01-internacional Base de dados: MEDLINE Assunto principal: Formigas / Florestas / Pradaria / Invertebrados Limite: Animals País/Região como assunto: America do sul / Brasil Idioma: En Revista: Ecology Ano de publicação: 2024 Tipo de documento: Article País de afiliação: Brasil País de publicação: Estados Unidos