Mutualism disruption by an invasive ant reduces carbon fixation for a foundational East African ant‐plant,Ecology Letters

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Mutualism disruption by an invasive ant reduces carbon fixation for a foundational East African ant‐plant
Ecology Letters ( IF 7.6 ) Pub Date : 2021-03-21 , DOI: 10.1111/ele.13725
Patrick D. Milligan _{1,

2} , Timothy A. Martin ₃ , Grace P. John ₁ , Corinna Riginos ₄ , Jacob R. Goheen _{2,

5} , Scott M. Carpenter ₆ , Todd M. Palmer _{1,

2}

Affiliation

Invasive ants shape assemblages and interactions of native species, but their effect on fundamental ecological processes is poorly understood. In East Africa, Pheidole megacephala ants have invaded monodominant stands of the ant‐tree Acacia drepanolobium, extirpating native ant defenders and rendering trees vulnerable to canopy damage by vertebrate herbivores. We used experiments and observations to quantify direct and interactive effects of invasive ants and large herbivores on A. drepanolobium photosynthesis over a 2‐year period. Trees that had been invaded for ≥ 5 years exhibited 69% lower whole‐tree photosynthesis during key growing seasons, resulting from interaction between invasive ants and vertebrate herbivores that caused leaf‐ and canopy‐level photosynthesis declines. We also surveyed trees shortly before and after invasion, finding that recent invasion induced only minor changes in leaf physiology. Our results from individual trees likely scale up, highlighting the potential of invasive species to alter ecosystem‐level carbon fixation and other biogeochemical cycles.

中文翻译：

入侵性蚂蚁的相互干扰降低了基础东非蚂蚁植物的碳固定

入侵性蚂蚁塑造了本地物种的组合和相互作用，但对蚂蚁对基本生态过程的影响知之甚少。在东非，褐大头蚁蚁已侵入单优站在蚂蚁树的合欢drepanolobium，摘除本土蚂蚁捍卫者和渲染树容易受到脊椎动物食草动物雨棚损坏。我们使用实验和观察来量化入侵性蚂蚁和大型草食动物对拟南芥的直接和交互作用在2年内进行光合作用。入侵≥5年的树木在关键生长季节的全树光合作用降低了69％，这是由于入侵性蚂蚁与脊椎动物草食动物之间的相互作用导致叶和冠层水平的光合作用下降所致。我们还对入侵前后的树木进行了调查，发现最近的入侵仅引起叶片生理的微小变化。我们从单个树木得到的结果可能会扩大，这突出表明了入侵物种改变生态系统级碳固定和其他生物地球化学循环的潜力。

更新日期：2021-04-14

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