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ARS Home » Plains Area » Las Cruces, New Mexico » Range Management Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #230407
Title: Does energy flux determine ant diversity? A case study in an arid ecosystem

Author
item RIOS-CASANOVA, LETICIA - UNIV NAC AUTON DE MEXICO
item Bestelmeyer, Brandon

Submitted to: Ecological Society of America Abstracts
Publication Type: Abstract Only
Publication Acceptance Date: 7/5/2008
Publication Date: 8/3/2008
Citation: Rios-Casanova, L., Bestelmeyer, B.T. 2008. Does energy flux determine ant diversity? A case study in an arid ecosystem [abstract]. Ecological Society of America Abstracts. Paper No. PS 71-14.

Interpretive Summary:

Technical Abstract: Ants are highly diverse, widespread, and abundant organisms playing important roles in ecosystem functioning. For these reasons, it is useful to know what structures their diversity. Biodiversity is ultimately constrained by energy availability and the relationship between energy and diversity has been considered at global scales. Energy flux measured as net primary productivity (NPP), however, also varies considerably at landscape scales. In this work, we asked if patterns of ant diversity within a landscape can be predicted by variation in energy flux. To answer this question, we studied ant biodiversity and its relationship to NPP in the Chihuahuan Desert. This study was carried out at the Jornada Basin in southern New Mexico, in a portion of about 100,000 ha that comprises a variety of soils and geomorphology that result in substantial differences in NPP. We measured the peak standing crop biomass (as a proxy for NPP) of 20 sites that comprise 5 different types of vegetation states (grasslands, shrublands and ecotones between them), as well as the richness, abundance and biomass of ants.