Climate and vegetation structure shape ant communities along elevational gradients on the Colorado Plateau.

ABSTRACT: Terrestrial animal communities are largely shaped by vegetation and climate. With climate also shaping vegetation, can we attribute animal patterns solely to climate? Our study observes ant community changes along climatic gradients (i.e., elevational gradients) within different habitat types (i.e., open and forest) on the Colorado Plateau in the southwestern United States. We sampled ants and vegetation along two elevational gradients spanning 1,132 m with average annual temperature and precipitation differences of 5.7°C and 645mm, respectively. We used regression analyses and structural equation modeling to compare the explanatory powers and effect sizes of climate and vegetation variables on ants. Climate variables had the strongest correlations and the largest effect sizes on ant commu

SUBMITTER: Uhey DA 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7417256 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature