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Biodiversity of ants and associated mites in constructed grasslands at multiple spatial scales

Campbell, Kaitlin Uppstrom
http://orcid.org/0000-0003-2935-4657
http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=miami1437731696

Abstract Details

2015, Doctor of Philosophy, Miami University, Ecology, Evolution and Environmental Biology.
The goals of this dissertation were to examine how patch and landscape level processes structure ant communities in agricultural landscapes and determine the relative roles of patch and host-level factors in determining ant-associated mite diversity and community composition. In Chapter 1, I examined ant richness, species frequencies, and community composition in 23 warm season constructed grasslands that varied in both patch and landscape level characteristics. Ant species richness was greater in older sites with sandier soils, while community composition was structured by soil texture, management, and urban land use. Frequency analyses for 14 ant species showed a wide range of responses to both patch and landscape components of the environment including age, management, soil texture, and surrounding land use. My findings support the use of ants as environmental indicators of disturbance in agricultural landscapes and show that diversity in constructed grasslands is structured by both patch and landscape level processes. In Chapter 2, I determined the relative importance of host and habitat for an ant-dependent commensalism (phoretic mites). I found that large, cosmopolitan, and abundant ant species support a greater proportion of the mite diversity. Additionally, I found that patch level characteristics, or environmental context (area, age, soil texture, and litter depth), of the host can alter the associated mite diversity. In Chapter 3, predictions of theory, herbivore resource hypotheses, and spatial parasitology were used to identify the extent of the ecological neighborhood for mites associated with ants. My results indicate that commensal mite communities are consistent with the Resource Size Hypothesis and are sensitive to ecological neighborhoods at multiple hierarchical levels including individual host ants, the host ant colony, surrounding nest community, and habitat type, but do not vary significantly among sites. In the final chapter, I examined the importance of spatial arrangement of ant nests for mite dispersal among nests in a homogenous environment and the role of seasonal synchrony with hosts. I found significant spatial autocorrelation for mite communities at the closest distance class and evidence of increased mite abundance and richness during periods of ant colony reproduction. Together, these studies demonstrate that processes at multiple temporal and spatial scales contribute to biodiversity and community assembly within conservation habitats and that the context of ant hosts can modify their roles as biodiversity regulators.
Thomas Crist (Advisor)
Hans Klompen (Committee Member)
Melany Fisk (Committee Member)
Ann Rypstra (Committee Member)
John Maingi (Committee Member)
121 p.
Biology; Ecology; Entomology
Ants; Formicidae; Mites; Acari; Myrmecophile; Community Ecology; Grassland; Prairie; Landscape Ecology; Spatial parasitology; Succession

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Citations

  • Campbell, K. U. (2015). Biodiversity of ants and associated mites in constructed grasslands at multiple spatial scales [Doctoral dissertation, Miami University]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=miami1437731696

    APA Style (7th edition)

  • Campbell, Kaitlin. Biodiversity of ants and associated mites in constructed grasslands at multiple spatial scales. 2015. Miami University, Doctoral dissertation. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=miami1437731696.

    MLA Style (8th edition)

  • Campbell, Kaitlin. "Biodiversity of ants and associated mites in constructed grasslands at multiple spatial scales." Doctoral dissertation, Miami University, 2015. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=miami1437731696

    Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)

miami1437731696
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© 2015, all rights reserved.
This open access ETD is published by Miami University and OhioLINK.