In tropical forests, twigs are the nesting resources most frequently occupied by ants in the leaf litter. During occupation, this resource may be shared among different arthropods, such as ants or non-ant arthropods, but the mechanisms that promote cohabitation in this context are poorly known. In this study, we examined if twig structure influences species cohabitation. Additionally, we calculated co-occurrence and niche overlap metrics for ant species and non-ant arthropods occupying the same twigs in the leaf litter. We collected 52 species of ants and 82 morphospecies of non-ant arthropods inside 575 twigs from fragments of Brazilian Atlantic Forest. Thirty-six ant species cohabited with non-ant arthropods, which were primarily Isopoda and Coleoptera. We observed that the twigs most commonly shared by ants and non-ant arthropods were wider, longer, and had a larger number of holes. We also found that cohabiting ants and non-ant arthropods had higher co-occurrence and niche overlap scores. We suggest that twig diameter is an important factor determining occupation by ants and other arthropods. When the twig is occupied by more than one ant species, our results show that niche overlap and cohabitation with non-ant arthropods are less common. We conclude that examining twig structure is important to better understand arthropod species cohabitation in leaf litter twigs and to study coexistence in ant assemblages that use twigs.

中文翻译：

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巴西大西洋森林落叶中节肢动物占据树枝的同居和生态位重叠

在热带森林中，树枝是落叶中蚂蚁最常占据的筑巢资源。在占领期间，这种资源可能在不同的节肢动物之间共享，例如蚂蚁或非蚂蚁节肢动物，但在这种情况下促进共存的机制知之甚少。在这项研究中，我们检查了树枝结构是否影响物种共存。此外，我们计算了蚂蚁物种和非蚂蚁节肢动物在落叶中占据相同树枝的共现和生态位重叠指标。我们在来自巴西大西洋森林碎片的 575 根树枝中收集了 52 种蚂蚁和 82 种非蚂蚁节肢动物。36 种蚂蚁与非蚂蚁节肢动物共存，主要是等足纲和鞘翅目。我们观察到蚂蚁和非蚂蚁节肢动物最常共享的树枝更宽，更长，并且有更多的孔。我们还发现同居蚂蚁和非蚂蚁节肢动物具有更高的共现和生态位重叠分数。我们认为树枝直径是决定蚂蚁和其他节肢动物占领的重要因素。当树枝被一种以上的蚂蚁物种占据时，我们的结果表明，与非蚂蚁节肢动物的生态位重叠和同居不太常见。我们得出的结论是，检查树枝结构对于更好地了解节肢动物在落叶树枝中的共存以及研究使用树枝的蚂蚁组合中的共存很重要。当树枝被一种以上的蚂蚁物种占据时，我们的结果表明，与非蚂蚁节肢动物的生态位重叠和同居不太常见。我们得出的结论是，检查树枝结构对于更好地了解节肢动物在落叶树枝中的共存以及研究使用树枝的蚂蚁组合中的共存很重要。当树枝被一种以上的蚂蚁物种占据时，我们的结果表明，与非蚂蚁节肢动物的生态位重叠和同居不太常见。我们得出的结论是，检查树枝结构对于更好地了解节肢动物在落叶树枝中的共存以及研究使用树枝的蚂蚁组合中的共存很重要。