scholarly journals Scarcity of sites suitable for nesting promotes plesiobiosis in ants (Hymenoptera: Formicidae)

2004 ◽  
Vol 15 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Wojciech Czechowski
Keyword(s):  
Social Insect ◽  
Insect Species ◽  
Habitat Conditions ◽  
Close Proximity ◽  
Successional Series ◽  
Rocky Outcrop ◽  
Successional Stages ◽  
Rocky Habitats ◽  
Rudimentary Form ◽  
Local Habitat

Plesiobiosis is a rudimentary form of social symbiosis. It consists of the close proximity of nests of different social insect species. Numerous cases of plesiobiosis between ant species observed in a successional series of rocky habitats in S Finland are listed and themost interesting of them are described in detail. Among all Lasius colonies found within the whole successional series studied, as many as 8.4% were plesiobiotically associated with other ants. In the two earliest successional stages: the shoremeadow and the open rocky outcrop, the proportion was nearly 12% and 10% respectively. The finding of numerous plesiobiotically related nests there is discussed in the context of the unique local habitat conditions.

scholarly journals The impact of spatial isolation and local habitat conditions on colonization of recent forest stands by ectomycorrhizal fungi

2018 ◽  
Vol 429 ◽  
pp. 84-92 ◽  
Author(s):  
Margaux Boeraeve ◽  
Olivier Honnay ◽  
Nele Mullens ◽  
Kris Vandekerkhove ◽  
Luc De Keersmaeker ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Ectomycorrhizal Fungi ◽  
Habitat Conditions ◽  
Forest Stands ◽  
Spatial Isolation ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Local Habitat

scholarly journals Can morphological and behavioral traits predict the foraging and feeding dynamics of social arachnids?

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Renan F Moura ◽  
Everton Tizo-Pedroso ◽  
Kleber Del-Claro
Keyword(s):  
Natural Selection ◽  
Social Insect ◽  
Prey Capture ◽  
Insect Species ◽  
Task Specialization ◽  
Behavioral Traits ◽  
The Social

Abstract Complex social insect species exhibit task specialization mediated by morphological and behavioral traits. However, evidence of such traits is scarce for other social arthropods. We investigated whether the social pseudoscorpion Paratemnoides nidificator exhibits morphologically and behaviorally specialized individuals in prey capture. We measured body and chela sizes of adult pseudoscorpions and analyzed predation processes. Larger individuals spent more time moving through the colony and foraging than smaller pseudoscorpions. Individuals that captured prey had increased body and absolute chelae sizes. Although larger individuals had relatively small chelae size, they showed a higher probability of prey capture. Larger individuals manipulated prey often, although they fed less than smaller pseudoscorpions. Individuals that initiated captures fed more frequently and for more time than the others. Natural selection might be favoring individuals specialized in foraging and colony protection, allowing smaller and less efficient adults to avoid contact with dangerous prey. To our knowledge, there is incipient information regarding specialized individuals in arachnids, and our results might indicate the emergence of a morphologically specialized group in this species.

Stream invertebrate communities are primarily shaped by hydrological factors and ultimately fine-tuned by local habitat conditions

2019 ◽  
Vol 665 ◽  
pp. 290-299 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ioannis Karaouzas ◽  
Christos Theodoropoulos ◽  
Aikaterini Vourka ◽  
Konstantinos Gritzalis ◽  
Nikolaos Th. Skoulikidis
Keyword(s):  
Habitat Conditions ◽  
Invertebrate Communities ◽  
Local Habitat

scholarly journals Using Nutritional Geometry to Explore How Social Insects Navigate Nutritional Landscapes

Insects ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 53 ◽  
Author(s):  
Antonin J. J. Crumière ◽  
Calum J. Stephenson ◽  
Manuel Nagel ◽  
Jonathan Z. Shik
Keyword(s):  
Hypothesis Testing ◽  
Social Insects ◽  
Social Insect ◽  
Social Information ◽  
Insect Species ◽  
Social Dimensions ◽  
Food Items ◽  
Nutritional Geometry ◽  
Potential Food ◽  
Cognitive Challenges

Insects face many cognitive challenges as they navigate nutritional landscapes that comprise their foraging environments with potential food items. The emerging field of nutritional geometry (NG) can help visualize these challenges, as well as the foraging solutions exhibited by insects. Social insect species must also make these decisions while integrating social information (e.g., provisioning kin) and/or offsetting nutrients provisioned to, or received from unrelated mutualists. In this review, we extend the logic of NG to make predictions about how cognitive challenges ramify across these social dimensions. Focusing on ants, we outline NG predictions in terms of fundamental and realized nutritional niches, considering when ants interact with related nestmates and unrelated bacterial, fungal, plant, and insect mutualists. The nutritional landscape framework we propose provides new avenues for hypothesis testing and for integrating cognition research with broader eco-evolutionary principles.

A survey of DNA methylation across social insect species, life stages, and castes reveals abundant and caste-associated methylation in a primitively social wasp

2013 ◽  
Vol 100 (8) ◽  
pp. 795-799 ◽  
Author(s):  
Susan A. Weiner ◽  
David A. Galbraith ◽  
Dean C. Adams ◽  
Nicole Valenzuela ◽  
Fernando B. Noll ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Dna Methylation ◽  
Social Insect ◽  
Social Wasp ◽  
Insect Species ◽  
Life Stages

Impacts of ecosystem fragmentation on plant populations: generalising the idiosyncratic

2003 ◽  
Vol 51 (5) ◽  
pp. 471 ◽  
Author(s):  
Richard J. Hobbs ◽  
Colin J. Yates
Keyword(s):  
Reproductive Output ◽  
Terrestrial Ecosystems ◽  
Population Viability ◽  
Habitat Conditions ◽  
Plant Populations ◽  
Factors Affecting ◽  
Successful Recruitment ◽  
Ecosystem Fragmentation ◽  
Animal Populations ◽  
Local Habitat

Fragmentation of natural vegetation is one of the most pervasive changes in terrestrial ecosystems across the Earth. Developing a general understanding of how fragmentation affects plant and animal populations is essential to meet the pressing need for guidelines for the management of fragmented systems. Nevertheless, this general understanding has to take account of differences in ecosystem types and different biogeographic, evolutionary and ecological backgrounds against which fragmentation impacts are played out in different parts of the world. Here, we examine fragmentation impacts on plant populations by considering the processes underlying fragmentation. We suggest that it is critical to focus on the key processes that are important in particular situations, rather than assuming that the same factors are likely to be important everywhere. In other words, there are inevitable limits to generalisation because of the idiosyncratic nature of the geography, history and biota of different regions. Studies on the effects of fragmentation on plant populations have focused on a limited subset of plant types and have concentrated heavily on reproductive output rather than actual regeneration success. These studies have indicated a clear impact of fragmentation on fecundity, but there is no clear signal in terms of the actual importance of this in relation to population viability. Other factors including local habitat conditions, disturbance and competition from weeds may be just as important as the classical biogeographical impacts of fragmentation. Generalisations based on a clear assessment of key life-history processes may be valuable tools in developing management responses to ecosystem fragmentation, but this requires considerably more emphasis on factors affecting successful recruitment as well as factors affecting fecundity.

Recovery of saturated hydraulic conductivity along a forest successional series from abandoned land to mature, evergreen broad-leaved forest in eastern China

Soil Research ◽  
2012 ◽  
Vol 50 (4) ◽  
pp. 257 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shun Lei Peng ◽  
Jian Wu ◽  
Wen Hui You
Keyword(s):  
Hydraulic Conductivity ◽  
Overland Flow ◽  
Eastern China ◽  
Coniferous Forest ◽  
Saturated Hydraulic Conductivity ◽  
Broad Leaved Forest ◽  
Abandoned Land ◽  
Successional Series ◽  
Successional Stages ◽  
Leaved Forest

Saturated hydraulic conductivity (Ks) can be used to indicate changes in soil hydrology resulting from vegetation succession. A constant-head permeameter was used to investigate differences in Ks at five soil depths (10, 20, 40, 60, and 80 cm) along a successional sequence of 155 years in evergreen broad-leaved forest at Tiantong National Forest Park, eastern China. The following six forest successional classes were studied: climax evergreen broad-leaved forest (CE), sub-climax evergreen broad-leaved forest (SE), evergreen broad-leaved mixed coniferous forest (MF), coniferous forest (CF), secondary shrub (SS), and abandoned land (AL). Surface Ks (the geometric mean of Ks at 10 and 20 cm soil depths) significantly increased from AL to CE but declined in CF. The surface Ks value under CE was higher than under other successional stages (CE 271 mm h–1, AL 58 mm h–1, SS 124 mm h–1, CF 90 mm h–1, MF 170 mm h–1, SE 231 mm h–1), and was 4.7 times greater than under AL, 2.2 times greater than under SS, and 3.0 times greater than under CF, but showed no significant difference from SE (P > 0.05). Vertical difference of Ks was detected up to a soil depth of 40 cm along forest successional series. Macroporosity was the main determining factor and played an important role in the process of Ks recovery. The likelihood of overland flow generation was inferred by comparing Ks at soil depths of 10, 20, 40, and 60 cm under the various successional stages at prevailing storm intensities. Overland flow was most likely to occur in the early successional stages. This study suggests that Ks could be restored to climax forest levels along forest successional series, but the recovery time could be as long as 95 years.

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