-
[show abstract]
[hide abstract]
ABSTRACT: Food availability often influences competitive outcomes through effects on consumer growth. Although it has received less attention, food availability may also affect competition through nutritional effects on behavior. One hypothesis linking nutrition and competition in ants posits that increased access to carbohydrates favors greater investment in worker traits that underlie behavioral dominance. We tested this hypothesis by varying dietary protein:carbohydrate (P:C) ratios and levels of interspecific interference for Argentine ants (Linepithema humile), a widespread invasive species. As predicted, colonies facing interference increased patrolling more when reared on low P:C diets; this result is the first demonstration of an interactive effect of nutrition and interference on ant colonies. Several results suggest that this dietary effect on patrolling was due primarily to changes in colony size rather than worker behavior. Colonies on lower P:C diets had lower worker mortality and larger final colony sizes. Diet had little effect on per capita patrolling, and worker behavior in performance assays depended more on previous exposure to interference than on diet. Our findings indicate that dietary P:C ratios can influence Argentine ant performance in a competitive environment and suggest a mechanism by which monopolization of carbohydrate-rich resources can help invasive ants displace native ant competitors.
Ecology 01/2010; 91(1):57-64. · 4.85 Impact Factor
-
[show abstract]
[hide abstract]
ABSTRACT: Fires can generate spatial variation in trophic interactions such as insect herbivory. If trophic interactions mediated by fire influence nutrient cycling, they could feed back on the more immediate consequences of fire on nutrient dynamics. Here we consider herbivore-induced effects on oak litter quality and decomposition within a long-term manipulation of fire frequency in central Minnesota, USA. We focused on bur oak (Quercus macrocarpa) trees, which are common across the fire frequency gradient and are often heavily infested with either lace bugs (Corythuca arcuata) or aphids (Hoplochaithropsus quercicola). We used targeted exclusion to test for herbivore-specific effects on litter chemistry and subsequent decomposition rates. Lace bug exclusion led to lower lignin concentrations in litterfall and subsequently accelerated decomposition. In contrast, aphid exclusion had no effect on litterfall chemistry or on decomposition rate, despite heavy infestation levels. Effects of lace bug herbivory on litterfall chemistry and decomposition were similar in burned and unburned areas. However, lace bug herbivory was much more common in burned than in unburned areas, whereas aphid herbivory was more common in unburned areas. These results suggest that frequent fires promote oak-herbivore interactions that decelerate decomposition. This effect should amplify other influences of fire that slow nitrogen cycling.
Ecology 06/2008; 89(5):1188-94. · 4.85 Impact Factor
-
[show abstract]
[hide abstract]
ABSTRACT: Predicting the outcome of competitive interactions is a fundamental goal in ecology. Ecological stoichiometry, which relates nutrient balance to ecological processes, provides a framework for identifying mechanistic links among macronutrient availability, nutritional physiology and competitive performance. Because carbohydrates serve as a principal metabolic fuel, carbohydrate scarcity may impinge upon behaviours affecting competitive dominance (e.g. aggression, activity) to a greater extent than deficiencies of protein or other nutrients used preferentially for growth. Here, we tested this prediction with a diet manipulation study involving laboratory colonies of Argentine ants (Linepithema humile), a widespread and aggressive invasive species. The availability of both sucrose and insect prey influenced brood production and worker survival after three months. However, colonies became less aggressive and less active only when deprived of sucrose (but not prey). Scarcity of sucrose (but not prey) was also associated with reduced fat mass in individual workers. These data provide the first experimental support that carbohydrate scarcity compromises aggression and activity in ants, and illustrate, in principle, how access to carbohydrate-rich resources (e.g. plant exudates, hemipteran honeydew) might influence behavioural investments that contribute to competitive performance. Such investments might be especially important for invasive ants, given their aggressiveness and tendency to interact with honeydew-producing Hemiptera.
Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences 01/2008; 274(1628):2951-7. · 5.41 Impact Factor
-
[show abstract]
[hide abstract]
ABSTRACT: Abstract 1. Environmental heterogeneity created by prescribed burning provided the context for testing whether the distribution of an oak specialist (the lace bug, Corythuca arcuata) could be explained by stoichiometric mismatches between herbivore and host plant composition.2. Field observations showed that lace bug density was seven-fold higher in frequently burned than in unburned units.3. Lace bug density did not increase with leaf nutrient concentrations, but was instead associated with higher light levels, higher concentrations of leaf carbon (C), lignin and total phenolics, and lower levels of cellulose. In addition, lace bugs reared on high-light leaves had higher levels of survivorship than those fed on low-light leaves.4. Sampling restricted to full-sun leaves was used to test whether fire-related changes in leaf nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) concentrations have a secondary influence on lace bug success. This sampling provided only limited evidence for nutrient limitation, as decreases in leaf N and P were associated with an increase in lace bug mass but a decrease in density.5. It is concluded that burning probably promotes lace bug population growth by increasing canopy openness, light penetration, and the availability of C-based metabolites, and thus simple stoichoimetric mismatches between herbivores and host plants are not of primary importance in this system.
Ecological Entomology 11/2007; 32(6):754 - 761. · 2.00 Impact Factor
-
[show abstract]
[hide abstract]
ABSTRACT: Human activities have resulted in increased nitrogen deposition and atmospheric CO(2) concentrations in the biosphere, potentially causing significant changes in many ecological processes. In addition to these ongoing perturbations of the abiotic environment, human-induced losses of biodiversity are also of major concern and may interact in important ways with biogeochemical perturbations to affect ecosystem structure and function. We have evaluated the effects of these perturbations on plant biomass stoichiometric composition (C:N:P ratios) within the framework of the BioCON experimental setup (biodiversity, CO(2), N) conducted at the Cedar Creek Natural History Area, Minnesota. Here we present data for five plant species: Solidago rigida, Achillea millefolium, Amorpha canescens, Lespedeza capitata, and Lupinus perennis. We found significantly higher C:N and C:P ratios under elevated CO(2) treatments, but species responded idiosyncratically to the treatment. Nitrogen addition decreased C:N ratios, but this response was greater in the ambient CO(2) treatments than under elevated CO(2). Higher plant species diversity generally lowered both C:N and C:P ratios. Importantly, increased diversity also led to a more modest increase in the C:N ratio with elevated CO(2) levels. In addition, legumes exhibited lower C:N and higher C:P and N:P ratios than non-legumes, highlighting the effect of physiological characteristics defining plant functional types. These data suggest that atmospheric CO(2) levels, N availability, and plant species diversity interact to affect both aboveground and belowground processes by altering plant elemental composition.
Oecologia 05/2007; 151(4):687-96. · 3.41 Impact Factor
-
[show abstract]
[hide abstract]
ABSTRACT: Carbon : nitrogen : phosphorus (C : N : P) stoichiometry can underlie physiological and life history characteristics that shape ecological interactions. Despite its potential importance, there is much to learn about the causes and consequences of stoichiometric variation in terrestrial consumers. Here we show that treehoppers (Publilia modesta) tended by ants (Formica obscuripes) contained lower N concentrations than treehoppers on plants from which ants were excluded. Ant presence also affected nutrient concentrations in host plants: on plants with ants, leaves contained uniformly low concentrations of N; on plants without ants, N concentrations were low only in the few leaves fed upon by treehoppers at the time of collection. We suggest treehopper feeding reduces leaf nutrient levels and ants positively affect treehopper abundance, producing a top–down effect on plant quality. Determining the causes of these stoichiometric changes should help elucidate factors guiding the dynamics of conditional mutualisms between ants and homopterans.
Ecology Letters 10/2004; 7(11):1024 - 1028. · 17.56 Impact Factor
