Moving apart together: co-movement of a symbiont community and their ant host, and its importance for community assembly.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Species interactions may affect spatial dynamics when the movement of one species is determined by the presence of another one. The most direct species-dependence of dispersal is vectored, usually cross-kingdom, movement of immobile parasites, diseases or seeds by mobile animals. Joint movements of species should, however, not be vectored by definition, as even mobile species are predicted to move together when they are tightly connected in symbiont communities.

Methods

We studied concerted movements in a diverse and heterogeneous community of arthropods (myrmecophiles) associated with red wood ants. We questioned whether joint-movement strategies eventually determine and speed-up community succession.

Results

We recorded an astonishingly high number of obl

SUBMITTER: Parmentier T 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8140472 | biostudies-literature | 2021 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature