Abstract
Chronic anthropogenic disturbances (chronic disturbances) and climate change can eliminate sensitive species and support the proliferation of disturbance-adapted ones leading native communities to biotic homogenization. We investigate the individual and interactive effects of increasing chronic disturbances and aridity on the biotic homogenization of ant communities in a Caatinga dry forest in northeast Brazil. Ant communities were recorded across 20 forest stands covering gradients of annual rainfall and chronic disturbances (wood extraction, people pressure, and grazing pressure) intensity. Ant communities were described by adopting taxonomic, functional, and phylogenetic attributes. We collected 71 species (24 genera and 7 subfamilies). Aridity-driven reductions in beta diversity were stronger (about 73 %) than chronic disturbance-driven reductions (27 %) for all (but phylogenetic) biodiversity dimensions. Chronic disturbance-driven reduction in beta diversity was more evident via wood extraction than via people and grazing pressure. Intriguing interactive effects of chronic disturbance and aridity were observed for all biodiversity dimensions. Increased chronic disturbances led to slight increases in beta diversity in drier forest stands, probably due to spatial heterogeneity in aridity and chronic disturbance sources distribution. Results suggest that (1) aridity and chronic disturbance represent key drivers of community organization at the landscape scale, (2) chronic disturbance and aridity pose isolated and interactive effects, but aridity plays a major role, and (3) both community-level homogenization or divergence can emerge but in the extreme conditions ant communities converge taxonomically, functionally, and phylogenetically.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Article number | 110151 |
| Pages (from-to) | 1-10 |
| Number of pages | 10 |
| Journal | Biological Conservation |
| Volume | 284 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - Aug 2023 |
Bibliographical note
Funding Information:We thank to Catimbau National Park staff for their support during field activities and to Lucas Lima and Francisco C. Lima-Júnior for their help in morphometric measurements. We also thank Genivaldo Constatino da Silva for field assistance. We are greatful to Brazilian Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq-PELD process 403770/2012-2 , Universal processes 490450/2013-0 and 470480/2013-0 ), Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES, PVE process 88881.030482/2013-01 ) and Fundação de Amparo à Ciência de Pernambuco (FACEPE, APQ processes 0738-2.05/12 and APQ 06012.05/15 , PRONEX process 0138-2.05/14 ) for the financial support. J.D.R.N. was supported by Brazilian Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES – PVE fellowship 88881.030482/2013-01 ). F.M.P.O was supported by CAPES and FACEPE for her postdoctoral grants (processes 88887.163451/2018-00 and BCT-0073-2.05/18 ). G.B.A. was supported by CNPq (process 236918/2012-5 ). M.T., I.R.L. and X.A. thank CNPq for productivity grants (PQ processes 313470/2021-9 , 308300/2018-1 and 307385/2020-5 ). X.A. also thanks the Ramón y Cajal research contract by the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness ( RYC-2015-18448 ) and the Rufford Small Grants Foundation ( RSG 17372-1 ).
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