Do an ecosystem engineer and environmental gradient act independently or in concert to shape juvenile plant communities? Tests with the leaf-cutter ant Atta laevigata in a Neotropical savanna.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Ecosystem engineers are species that transform habitats in ways that influence other species.While the impacts of many engineers have been well described, our understanding of how their impact varies along environmental gradients remains limited. Although disentangling the effects of gradients and engineers on biodiversity is complicated-the gradients themselves can be altered by engineers-doing so is necessary to advance conceptual and mathematical models of ecosystem engineering. We used leaf-cutter ants (Atta spp.) to investigate the relative influence of gradients and environmental engineers on the abundance and species richness of woody plants.

Methods

We conducted our research in South America's Cerrado. With a survey of plant recruits along a

SUBMITTER: Costa AN 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6183508 | biostudies-literature | 2018

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature