Composition, structure, and competitive behaviour in a guild of Ecuadorian rain forest dung beetles (Coleoptera; Scarabaeidae)

1982 ◽  
Vol 60 (7) ◽  
pp. 1624-1634 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stewart B. Peck ◽  
Adrian Forsyth
Keyword(s):  
Resource Use ◽  
Rain Forest ◽  
Reproductive Activity ◽  
Population Densities ◽  
Interspecific Aggression ◽  
Competitive Behaviour ◽  
Composition Structure ◽  
Burial Rates ◽  
And Behavior ◽  
Neotropical Rain Forest

A guild of neotropical rain forest dung scarabs, collected by baited pit traps, was composed of 11 genera and 31 species of Scarabaeinae. Relative abundances were highly equitable. Population densities were high and stable through the transition from wet to dry season. Competition for dung was intense and removal and burial rates were rapid. Resource use differed between genera and species in diel flight activity, foraging and dung removal methods, and behavior. Interspecific aggression and dung stealing behaviors were well developed. Reproductive activity was inversely correlated with aggression and parental investment.

Life History Diversity of Canopy and Emergent Trees in a Neotropical Rain Forest

1992 ◽  
Vol 62 (3) ◽  
pp. 315-344 ◽  
Author(s):  
Deborah A. Clark ◽  
David B. Clark
Keyword(s):  
Life History ◽  
Rain Forest ◽  
Neotropical Rain Forest

Ecological and isotopic discrimination of syntopic rodents in a neotropical rain forest of French Guiana

2003 ◽  
Vol 19 (2) ◽  
pp. 209-214 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jean-François Mauffrey ◽  
François Catzeflis
Keyword(s):  
Stable Isotopes ◽  
Isotopic Composition ◽  
Rain Forest ◽  
French Guiana ◽  
Ecological Studies ◽  
Carbon Isotope Ratios ◽  
Photosynthetic Pathways ◽  
Feeding Process ◽  
Neotropical Rain Forest

Stable isotopes are commonly used in ecological studies to infer food resources (Ambrose & DeNiro 1986, Bocherens et al. 1990,1991,1994;Yoshinaga et al. 1991) since isotopic composition is conserved during the feeding process. Moreover,for herbivorous (sensu lato) species, it is often possible to identify the main resource because different photosynthetic pathways generate different values of carbon isotope ratios (Park & Epstein 1961, Sternberg et al. 1984). This allows the characterization of broad biota such as savannas or forest and discrimination of grazers from sympatric folivorous species (DeNiro & Epstein 1978).

Population Numbers and Reproductive Health

Endocrinology ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 162 (11) ◽  
Author(s):  
Alexander Suvorov
Keyword(s):  
Reproductive Behavior ◽  
Alternative Hypothesis ◽  
Experimental Studies ◽  
Causal Chain ◽  
Reproductive Physiology ◽  
Global Changes ◽  
Population Densities ◽  
Related Factors ◽  
And Behavior ◽  
Population Numbers

Abstract A recent study published in The Lancet predicts a remarkable drop in population numbers following a peak that will be reached by 2064. A unique feature of the upcoming population drop is that it will be almost exclusively caused by decreased reproduction, rather than factors that increase rates of mortality. The reasons for decreased reproduction are also unique, as, unlike previous centuries, limited reproduction today is hardly due to a shortage in resources. In other words, the predicted population drop is almost exclusively due to changes in reproductive behavior and reproductive physiology. Today, global changes in reproductive behavior are mostly explained by social sciences in a framework of demographic transition hypotheses, while changes in reproductive physiology are usually attributed to effects of endocrine-disrupting pollutants. This review outlines a complementary/alternative hypothesis, which connects reproductive trends with population densities. Numerous wildlife and experimental studies of a broad range of animal species have demonstrated that reproductive behavior and reproductive physiology are negatively controlled via endocrine and neural signaling in response to increasing population densities. The causal chain of this control system, although not fully understood, includes suppression of every level of hypothalamic-pituitary-gonadal cascade by hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis, activated in response to increasing stress of social interactions. This paper discusses evidence in support of a hypothesis that current trends in reproductive physiology and behavior may be partly explained by increasing population densities. Better understanding of the causal chain involved in reproduction suppression by population density–related factors may help in developing interventions to treat infertility and other reproductive conditions.

Land-use Change Dynamics, Soil Type and Species Forming Mono-dominant Patches: the Case ofPteridium aquilinumin a Neotropical Rain Forest Region

Biotropica ◽  
2014 ◽  
Vol 47 (1) ◽  
pp. 18-26 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ireri Suazo-Ortuño ◽  
Leonel Lopez-Toledo ◽  
Javier Alvarado-Díaz ◽  
Miguel Martínez-Ramos
Keyword(s):  
Land Use ◽  
Land Use Change ◽  
Soil Type ◽  
Rain Forest ◽  
Change Dynamics ◽  
Forest Region ◽  
Neotropical Rain Forest

Niche opportunity and ant invasion: the case of Wasmannia auropunctata in a New Caledonian rain forest

2005 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
pp. 93-98 ◽  
Author(s):  
Julien Le Breton ◽  
Hervé Jourdan ◽  
Jean Chazeau ◽  
Jérôme Orivel ◽  
Alain Dejean
Keyword(s):  
Resource Use ◽  
Rain Forest ◽  
Biotic Resistance ◽  
Fire Ant ◽  
Food Sources ◽  
Ant Colonies ◽  
Wasmannia Auropunctata ◽  
Nesting Sites ◽  
Island Communities ◽  
Little Fire Ant

Due to the unbalanced distribution of their fauna and flora, which leads to the creation of a niche opportunities, it is generally accepted that island communities offer weak biotic resistance to biological invasion. In order to empirically test this statement, we compared resource use by ants in the understorey of an undisturbed New Caledonian rain forest recently invaded by the little fire ant, Wasmannia auropunctata. We tested the exploitation of: (1) food sources by placing baits on all trees with trunks greater than 5 cm in diameter; and (2) nesting sites on two tree species likely to shelter ant colonies. In non-invaded areas, the native ants occupied only 44.6% of the baits after 2 h of exposure, while in invaded areas all the baits were occupied by numerous W. auropunctata workers. Similarly, in non-invaded areas only 48.9% of Meryta coriacea (Araliaceae) trees and 64.5% of Basselinia pancheri (Arecaceae) sheltered ants, while in invaded areas W. auropunctata nested in 92.6–98.3% of these trees. Also, workers attended native Margarodidae (Hemiptera) for which they promoted the development of populations significantly larger than those attended by native ants. Thus native ants appear unable to efficiently exploit and defend several of the available food sources and nesting sites, providing a niche opportunity for an invader like W. auropunctata.

Diurnal foraging ant–tree co‐occurrence networks are similar between canopy and understorey in a Neotropical rain forest

Biotropica ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 52 (4) ◽  
pp. 717-729 ◽  
Author(s):  
Reuber Antoniazzi ◽  
Jose García‐Franco ◽  
Milan Janda ◽  
Maurice Leponce ◽  
Wesley Dáttilo
Keyword(s):  
Rain Forest ◽  
Neotropical Rain Forest
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