Temperature or competition: Which has more influence on Mediterranean ant communities?

ABSTRACT: Temperature and competition are two of the main factors determining ant community assemblages. Temperature may allow species to forage more or less efficiently throughout the day (in accordance with the maximum activity temperature of each species). Competition can be observed and quantified from species replacements occurring during resource exploitation. We studied the interspecific competitive interactions of ant communities from the Doñana Biological Reserve (southern Spain). Ants were sampled from pitfall traps and baits in three habitats with contrasted vegetation physiognomy (savin forest, pine forest, and dry scrubland). We measured the temperature during the competitive interactions between species and created a thermal competition index (TCI) to assess the relative contribution o

SUBMITTER: Sanchez-Garcia D 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9053807 | biostudies-literature | 2022

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature