title: Dominance in a ground-dwelling ant community of banana agroecosystem.
abstract: In tropical ecosystems, ants represent a substantial portion of the animal biomass and contribute to various ecosystem services, including pest regulation and pollination. Dominant ant species are known to determine the structure of ant communities by interfering in the foraging of other ant species. Using bait and pitfall trapping experiments, we performed a pattern analysis at a fine spatial scale of an ant community in a very simplified and homogeneous agroecosystem, that is, a single-crop banana field in Martinique (French West Indies). We found that the community structure was driven by three dominant species (Solenopsis geminata,Nylanderia guatemalensis, andMonomorium ebeninum) and two subdominant species (Pheidole fallaxandBrachymyrmex patagonicus). Our results showed that dominant and subdominant species generally maintained numerical dominance at baits across time, althoughS. geminata,M. ebeninum, andB. patagonicusdisplayed better abilities to maintain dominance thanP. fallaxandN. guatemalensis. Almost all interspecific correlations between species abundances, except those betweenB. patagonicusandN. guatemalensis, were symmetrically negative, suggesting that interference competition prevails in this ground-dwelling ant community. However, we observed variations in the diurnal and nocturnal foraging activity and in the daily occurrence at baits, which may mitigate the effect of interference competition through the induction of spatial and temporal niche partitioning. This may explain the coexistence of dominant, subdominant, and subordinate species in this very simplified agroecosystem, limited in habitat structure and diversity.
authors.affiliation: CIRAD UPR GECO Le Lamentin Martinique France.
authors.forename: Dominique
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Carval
authors.affiliation: CIRAD UPR GECO Le Lamentin Martinique France.
authors.forename: Violaine
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Cotté
authors.affiliation: CIRAD UPR GECO Le Lamentin Martinique France.
authors.forename: Rémi
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Resmond
authors.affiliation: CIRAD UPR GECO Le Lamentin Martinique France.
authors.forename: Benjamin
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Perrin
authors.affiliation: CIRADUPR GECO Montpellier France; Departamento de Agricultura y Agroforesteria CATIE Turrialba Costa Rica.
authors.forename: Philippe
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Tixier
keywords: ant; coexistence; community; dominance; interference competition; pattern analysis