Effects of Urban Development on Ant Communities: Implications for Ecosystem Services and Management
Effects of Urban Development on Ant Communities: Implications for Ecosystem Services and Management
复制标题
城市发展对蚂蚁群落的影响：对生态系统服务和管理的影响
作者：
Monte P. Sanford;P. Manley;D. Murphy
摘要：目前缺乏将城市化对生物多样性和生态系统服务的影响联系起来的研究。蚂蚁执行多种生态功能，稳定生态系统，并有助于许多生态系统服务。研究了太浩湖流域蚂蚁群落对城市化的响应。我们对蚂蚁群落进行了采样，测量了植被特征，量化了人类活动，并通过将蚂蚁分组为服务提供单位（spu）来评估蚂蚁群落的响应，spu被定义为执行特定生态系统服务的一组生物体及其种群，从而了解城市化对生物多样性及其生态系统服务的影响。物种丰富度和丰度在城市发展的中等水平时达到峰值，3种类型的蚂蚁spu（曝气者、分解者和编译者）丰富度也达到峰值。随着土地开发的增加，曝气蚁和分解蚁的数量显著减少，而编译蚁的数量显著增加。相互竞争的模型表明，降水往往是对蚂蚁群落结构影响最大的因素之一；然而，城市发展和人类活动也对蚂蚁产生了强烈的负面影响，在大多数模型中，spu和通才的物种丰富度和丰度格局均为ΔAICc < 2。spu内的响应多样性表明，相应的生态系统服务可以维持到开发程度达到30-40%。我们的数据提供的证据表明，生态系统功能，如水渗透和土壤生产力，可能会在城市化水平较高的地点减弱，保护蚂蚁群落及其提供的生态系统服务可能是土地利用规划和保护工作的重要目标。
Abstract: Research that connects the effects of urbanization on biodiversity and ecosystem services is lacking. Ants perform multifarious ecological functions that stabilize ecosystems and contribute to a number of ecosystem services. We studied responses of ant communities to urbanization in the Lake Tahoe basin by sampling sites along a gradient of urban land development. We sampled ant communities, measured vegetation characteristics, quantified human activities, and evaluated ant‐community responses by grouping ants into service‐providing units (SPUs), defined as a group of organisms and their populations that perform specific ecosystem services, to provide an understanding of urbanization impacts on biodiversity and their delivery of ecosystem services. Species richness and abundance peaked at intermediate levels of urban development, as did the richness of 3 types of ant SPUs (aerators, decomposers, and compilers). With increasing land development aerator and decomposer ants significantly declined in abundance, whereas compiler ants significantly increased in abundance. Competing models demonstrated that precipitation was frequently among the strongest influences on ant community structure; however, urban development and human activities also had a strong, negative influence on ants, appearing in most models with ΔAICc < 2 for species richness and abundance patterns of SPUs and generalists. Response diversity was observed within SPUs, which suggests that the corresponding ecosystem services were maintained until development reached 30–40%. Our data provide evidence that ecosystem functions, such as water infiltration and soil productivity, may be diminished at sites subject to greater levels of urbanization and that conserving ant communities and the ecosystem services they provide could be an important target in land‐use planning and conservation efforts.