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The spatial variation in ant species composition and functional groups across the Subantarctic-Patagonian transition zone

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Abstract

The role of ecotones in the maintenance of species diversity is rather controversial; they may represent either biodiversity hotspots with unique and rare forms, or be transitional areas that hold marginal populations of species. We analyse the taxonomic and functional composition of ant species assemblages across the Subantarctic-Patagonian transition to evaluate the role that transitional shrublands may play in the maintenance of the taxonomic and functional differentiation. We collected ants using 450 pitfall traps within a ~150 × 150 km area. Species were classified into functional groups in relation to stress and disturbance, and in foraging groups according to their foraging behavior. An indicator value for each species in each habitat was calculated. The steppes and the forests strongly differed in ant species and functional composition. Climatic effects combined with structural components of plant environment explained about 23–27 % of the variation in ant composition. The shrublands did not show a distinctive fauna, and show greater similarity in ant species composition and in the proportional occupancy of functional groups to the steppes than to the forests. They harbor neither rare nor indicator species, except for Lasiophanes valdiviensis, and thus this reinforces the idea that they are not a habitat source of species, but an area of encounter between two distinct forest- and steppe- ant faunas, where a high number of local distributional limits of ant species overlap.

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Acknowledgments

We thank Alan N. Andersen, Alan Stewart and Lucas Garibaldi for valuable comments and suggestions that improved our work. This work is part of a wider project funded by Agencia/Foncyt (BID 1728/OC-AR-PICT No. 01-11826), the British Ecological Society (SEPG2243a), CONICET (PIP 2010-2012 IU 0084), and Universidad Nacional del Comahue. Millerón family assisted us in the field and laboratory. K. Speziale and C. Ezcurra made the taxonomic identifications of plants and estimated plant cover. Fabiana Cuezzo helped us with the taxonomic identifications of ants. Argentina National Park Administration gave us permission to collect ants in Nahuel Huapi and Lanin National Parks.

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  1. Laboratorio Ecotono. Centro Regional Universitario Bariloche, Universidad Nacional del Comahue, INIBIOMA-CONICET, Pasaje Gutierrez 1125, 8400, Bariloche, Argentina

    Paula Nilda Fergnani, Paula Sackmann & Adriana Ruggiero

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  1. Paula Nilda Fergnani
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Correspondence to Paula Nilda Fergnani.

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Fergnani, P.N., Sackmann, P. & Ruggiero, A. The spatial variation in ant species composition and functional groups across the Subantarctic-Patagonian transition zone. J Insect Conserv 17, 295–305 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10841-012-9510-3

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