Discussion of the vertical stratification of organisms in tropical forests has traditionally focused on species distribution. Most studies have shown that, due to differences in abiotic conditions and resource distribution, species can be distributed along the vertical gradient according to their ecophysiological needs. However, the network structure between distinct vertical strata remains little‐explored. To fill this gap in knowledge, we used baits to sample ants in the canopy and understorey trees of a Mexican tropical rain forest to record the ant–tree co‐occurrences. We examined the ant–tree co‐occurrences in the canopy and understorey using complementary network metrics (i.e., specialization, interaction diversity, modularity, and nestedness). In addition, we evaluated co‐occurrence patterns between ant species on trees, using C‐score analysis. In general, we found no differences in the network structure, although the interaction diversity was greater in the understorey than in the canopy networks. We also observed that co‐occurrence networks of each vertical stratum featured four ant species in the central core of highly co‐occurring species, with three species unique to each stratum. Moreover, we found a similar trend toward ant species segregation in the both strata. These findings reveal a similar pattern of ant–ant co‐occurrences in both vertical strata, probably due to the presence of arboreal‐nesting ants in the understorey. Overall, we showed that despite the marked differences in species composition and environmental conditions between understorey and canopy strata, ant–tree co‐occurrences in these habitats could be governed by similar mechanisms, related to dominance and resource monopolization by ants.

中文翻译：

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在新热带雨林中，冠层和下层的昼间觅食蚂蚁-树共现网络相似

传统上对热带森林中生物垂直分层的讨论一直集中在物种分布上。大多数研究表明，由于非生物条件和资源分布的差异，物种可以根据其生态生理需要沿垂直梯度分布。但是，不同垂直层之间的网络结构仍未得到充分探索。为了填补这一知识空白，我们使用诱饵在墨西哥热带雨林的冠层和下层树木中取样蚂蚁，以记录它们之间的共生现象。我们使用互补的网络指标（即专业化，交互多样性，模块化和嵌套性）检查了冠层和下层的蚂蚁-树共现。此外，我们评估了树上蚂蚁物种之间的共现模式，使用C得分分析。通常，我们发现网络结构没有差异，尽管下层的相互作用多样性比冠层网络更大。我们还观察到，每个垂直层的共生网络在高度共生物种的中心核心具有四个蚂蚁物种，每个层具有三个物种。此外，我们在两个层次中都发现了类似的蚂蚁物种隔离趋势。这些发现揭示了两个垂直地层中蚂蚁-蚂蚁共现的相似模式，这可能是由于地下层存在树栖嵌套蚂蚁。总体而言，我们表明，尽管下层和冠层之间的物种组成和环境条件存在显着差异，但这些生境中的蚂蚁-树共现可能受到类似机制的控制，