Caron, A.-S.; Koudji, E.G.; Handa, I.T.; Montoro Girona, M.; Despland, E. Forest Tent Caterpillar Outbreaks Drive Change in Ant Communities in Boreal Forests. Forests2023, 14, 1147.
Caron, A.-S.; Koudji, E.G.; Handa, I.T.; Montoro Girona, M.; Despland, E. Forest Tent Caterpillar Outbreaks Drive Change in Ant Communities in Boreal Forests. Forests 2023, 14, 1147.
Caron, A.-S.; Koudji, E.G.; Handa, I.T.; Montoro Girona, M.; Despland, E. Forest Tent Caterpillar Outbreaks Drive Change in Ant Communities in Boreal Forests. Forests2023, 14, 1147.
Caron, A.-S.; Koudji, E.G.; Handa, I.T.; Montoro Girona, M.; Despland, E. Forest Tent Caterpillar Outbreaks Drive Change in Ant Communities in Boreal Forests. Forests 2023, 14, 1147.
Abstract
Insect outbreaks are major drivers of natural disturbances in forest ecosystems. Outbreaks can have both direct and indirect effects on the composition of soil arthropod communities, through canopy opening, nutrient addition and predator-prey interactions. In this study, we aim to understand the effects of forest tent caterpillar (Malacosoma disstria; FTC) outbreaks on ant communities in both temperate and boreal forests in Canada. Using pitfall traps and Berlese funnels, we compared the ant communities as well as the surrounding arthropod communities between control and outbreak sites in boreal andboreal and temperate forests (in Québec, Canada). Using the Sørensen dissimilarity index, we determined the alpha and beta diversity of the ant community. Other arthropods collected in the traps were counted to evaluate the richness and abundance of potential prey for the ants and other potential predators of the FTC. We used an indicator species analysis to examine the species associated with sites defoliated by the outbreak. In the boreal forest, we found that FTC outbreaks caused decreases in species richness and increases in the evenness of ant communities in defoliated sites. In the boreal forest sites, species composition varied significantly between control and outbreak sites. This pattern was driven by the presence of other predators. We also saw no changes in beta diversity in the boreal forest but did see a significant decrease in the temperate forest between the outbreak sites and the control sites. A similar, but weaker pattern was observed in the temperate forest. Ant species in the boreal forest tended to exhibit a more marked preference for either control or previously defoliated sites than species in the temperate forest. Our study showed that disturbances like insect outbreaks can drive changes in the ant community. While we saw small effects of outbreaks, manipulation experiments using resource addition could help us validate the mechanisms behind these relationships.
Keywords
ant community; disturbance ecology; forest ecology; insect outbreaks; natural disturbances
Subject
Biology and Life Sciences, Insect Science
Copyright:
This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
,
,
,
