An ant-plant by-product mutualism is robust to selective logging of rain forest and conversion to oil palm plantation
Author(s)
Fayle, TM
Edwards, DP
Foster, WA
Yusah, KM
Turner, EC
Type
Journal Article
Abstract
Anthropogenic disturbance and the spread of non-native species disrupt natural communities, but also create novel interactions between species. By-product mutualisms, in which benefits accrue as side effects of partner behaviour or morphology, are often non-specific and hence may persist in novel ecosystems. We tested this hypothesis for a two-way by-product mutualism between epiphytic ferns and their ant inhabitants in the Bornean rain forest, in which ants gain housing in root-masses while ferns gain protection from herbivores. Specifically, we assessed how the specificity (overlap between fern and ground-dwelling ants) and the benefits of this interaction are altered by selective logging and conversion to an oil palm plantation habitat. We found that despite the high turnover of ant species, ant protection against herbivores persisted in modified habitats. However, in ferns growing in the oil palm plantation, ant occupancy, abundance and species richness declined, potentially due to the harsher microclimate. The specificity of the fern–ant interactions was also lower in the oil palm plantation habitat than in the forest habitats. We found no correlations between colony size and fern size in modified habitats, and hence no evidence for partner fidelity feedbacks, in which ants are incentivised to protect fern hosts. Per species, non-native ant species in the oil palm plantation habitat (18 % of occurrences) were as important as native ones in terms of fern protection and contributed to an increase in ant abundance and species richness with fern size. We conclude that this by-product mutualism persists in logged forest and oil palm plantation habitats, with no detectable shift in partner benefits. Such persistence of generalist interactions in novel ecosystems may be important for driving ecosystem functioning.
Date Issued
2015-01-10
Date Acceptance
2014-12-15
Citation
Oecologia, 2015, 178 (2), pp.441-450
ISSN
1432-1939
Publisher
Springer Verlag (Germany)
Start Page
441
End Page
450
Journal / Book Title
Oecologia
Volume
178
Issue
2
Copyright Statement
© The Author(s) 2015. This article is published with open access at Springerlink.com. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits any use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author(s) and the source are credited.
Identifier
http://gateway.webofknowledge.com/gateway/Gateway.cgi?GWVersion=2&SrcApp=PARTNER_APP&SrcAuth=LinksAMR&KeyUT=WOS:000354900700012&DestLinkType=FullRecord&DestApp=ALL_WOS&UsrCustomerID=1ba7043ffcc86c417c072aa74d649202
Subjects
Science & Technology
Life Sciences & Biomedicine
Ecology
Environmental Sciences & Ecology
Bird's nest fern
Formicidae
Malaysian Borneo
Oil palm
Rain forest
Ferns asplenium SPP.
Tropical biodiversity
Ecosystem function
Trade-offs
New-Guinea
Conservation
Malaysia
Hymenoptera
Agriculture
Animals
Ants
Arecaceae
Borneo
Conservation of Natural Resources
Disease Resistance
Ecosystem
Ferns
Herbivory
Microclimate
Plant Diseases
Plant Roots
Rainforest
Species Specificity
Symbiosis
Publication Status
Published