Functional trait dissimilarity drives arboreal ant community assembly while competitive trait hierarchies shape colony performance in experimental mesocosms
Field and mesocosm experiments reveal how functional trait differences impact ant community dynamics, suggesting implications for resource competition.
Key Points
Functional trait dissimilarity significantly drives ant community assembly and inter-specific competition, indicating resource partitioning strategies.
Data from a field survey of 115 mangrove trees and a mesocosm experiment with 87 ant colonies underscore strong competitive traits in resource acquisition.
Co-occurrence patterns show that eye size, pronotum width, and critical thermal limits influence ant interactions under limited resources and environmental conditions.
Findings highlight the contextual importance of traits in both promoting coexistence through niche partitioning and driving exclusion via competitive hierarchies.