Few Ant Species Play a Central Role Linking Different Plant Resources in a Network in Rupestrian Grasslands

• Published in: PloS one Vol. 11; no. 12; p. e0167161
• Main Authors: Costa, Fernanda V., Mello, Marco A. R., Bronstein, Judith L., Guerra, Tadeu J., Muylaert, Renata L., Leite, Alice C., Neves, Frederico S.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States Public Library of Science 02.12.2016; Public Library of Science (PLoS)
• Subjects: Animal behavior; Animals; Ants; Ants - physiology; Biodiversity; Biology and Life Sciences; Brazil; Community ecology; Community structure; Ecological function; Ecological integrity; Ecological monitoring; Ecology and Environmental Sciences; Extrafloral nectaries; Flowers; Food; Food plants; Formicidae; Fruits; Grassland; Grasslands; Hemiptera; Hymenoptera; Leaves; Modularity; Multivariate analysis; Nectar; Networks; Niche overlap; Partitioning; Plant nectar; Plant reproduction; Plant resources; Plants; Reinforcement; Resource partitioning; Seeds; Specialization; Species; Species diversity; Studies; Brazil; United States > US

Ant-plant associations are an outstanding model to study the entangled ecological interactions that structure communities. However, most studies of plant-animal networks focus on only one type of resource that mediates these interactions (e.g, nectar or fruits), leading to a biased understanding of...