NDLI: Shrub encroachment alters composition and diversity of ant communities in abandoned grasslands of western Carpathians

Content Provider	Springer Nature Link
Author	Wiezik, Michal Svitok, Marek Wieziková, Adela Dovčiak, Martin
Copyright Year	2013
Abstract	Invasions of woody species into grasslands abandoned by agriculture are a global phenomenon, but their effects on diversity of other taxa have been rarely investigated across both regional and local scales. We quantified how shrub encroachment affected the activity, composition, and diversity of ant communities in managed and abandoned grasslands in western Carpathians of Central Europe across four regions and four shrub encroachment stages in each region. We surveyed ant communities on 48 sites in total, with each encroachment stage replicated three times in each region and twelve times overall. We used pitfall traps to sample ants over three years (2008, 2009, 2011) and identified 9,254 ant workers belonging to 33 species in total. Although the epigaeic activity and composition of ant communities varied with region, abandoned grasslands supported a greater species richness of ants than managed grasslands regardless of the region, and especially so in more advanced shrub encroachment stages. Since the woody colonization within grasslands was moderate even in the advanced encroachment stages (on average ~40 % of grassland colonized by woody species), it allowed coexistence of forest specialists (e.g. Temnothorax crassispinus) with species typical of open grasslands, thus increasing overall ant diversity. Managed grasslands were not only less species rich compared to abandoned grasslands, but they were characterized by different species (e.g. Lasius niger, Myrmica rugulosa). The differences in ant communities between managed and abandoned grasslands are likely to cause differences in ecological functions mediated by ants (e.g. predation of arthropods or plant seed dispersal).
Starting Page	2305
Ending Page	2320
Page Count	16
File Format	PDF
ISSN	09603115
Journal	Biodiversity and Conservation
Volume Number	22
Issue Number	10
e-ISSN	15729710
Language	English
Publisher	Springer Netherlands
Publisher Date	2013-02-09
Publisher Place	Dordrecht
Access Restriction	One Nation One Subscription (ONOS)
Subject Keyword	succession Grassland management Formicidae Seminatural grasslands Evolutionary Biology Plant Sciences Tree Biology
Content Type	Text
Resource Type	Article
Subject	Ecology Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics Nature and Landscape Conservation

Sl.	Authority	Responsibilities	Communication Details
1	Ministry of Education (GoI), Department of Higher Education	Sanctioning Authority	https://www.education.gov.in/ict-initiatives
2	Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur	Host Institute of the Project: The host institute of the project is responsible for providing infrastructure support and hosting the project	https://www.iitkgp.ac.in
3	National Digital Library of India Office, Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur	The administrative and infrastructural headquarters of the project	Dr. B. Sutradhar bsutra@ndl.gov.in
4	Project PI / Joint PI	Principal Investigator and Joint Principal Investigators of the project	Dr. B. Sutradhar bsutra@ndl.gov.in Prof. Saswat Chakrabarti will be added soon
5	Website/Portal (Helpdesk)	Queries regarding NDLI and its services	support@ndl.gov.in
6	Contents and Copyright Issues	Queries related to content curation and copyright issues	content@ndl.gov.in
7	National Digital Library of India Club (NDLI Club)	Queries related to NDLI Club formation, support, user awareness program, seminar/symposium, collaboration, social media, promotion, and outreach	clubsupport@ndl.gov.in
8	Digital Preservation Centre (DPC)	Assistance with digitizing and archiving copyright-free printed books	dpc@ndl.gov.in
9	IDR Setup or Support	Queries related to establishment and support of Institutional Digital Repository (IDR) and IDR workshops	idr@ndl.gov.in

Changes of species richness pattern in mountain grasslands: abandonment versus restoration

Spontaneous regeneration of dry grasslands on set-aside fields

Diversity patterns in savanna grassland communities: implications for conservation strategies in a biodiversity hotspot

Mountain landscape archetypes of the Western Carpathians (Slovakia)

Local and landscape environmental heterogeneity drive ant community structure in temperate seminatural upland grasslands.

Ant assemblages on rehabilitated tropical landfills

Habitat diversity enhances ant diversity in a naturally heterogeneous Brazilian landscape

Response of lizard community structure to desert grassland restoration mediated by a keystone rodent

Leaf litter ant diversity in Guyana

Shrub encroachment alters composition and diversity of ant communities in abandoned grasslands of western Carpathians

Similar Documents

Changes of species richness pattern in mountain grasslands: abandonment versus restoration

Spontaneous regeneration of dry grasslands on set-aside fields

Diversity patterns in savanna grassland communities: implications for conservation strategies in a biodiversity hotspot

Mountain landscape archetypes of the Western Carpathians (Slovakia)

Local and landscape environmental heterogeneity drive ant community structure in temperate seminatural upland grasslands.

Ant assemblages on rehabilitated tropical landfills

Habitat diversity enhances ant diversity in a naturally heterogeneous Brazilian landscape

Response of lizard community structure to desert grassland restoration mediated by a keystone rodent

Leaf litter ant diversity in Guyana

Shrub encroachment alters composition and diversity of ant communities in abandoned grasslands of western Carpathians