Ant invasion is associated with lower root density and different root distribution of a foundational savanna tree species
Ant invasion is associated with lower root density and different root distribution of a foundational savanna tree species
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DOI：
10.1007/s10530-023-03008-4
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发表时间：
2023-01
影响因子：
2.9
通讯作者：
Patrick D. Milligan;T. Palmer;John S. Lemboi;John Mosiany;S. Mutisya;Benard C. Gituku;Alfred K. Kibungei;E. G. Pringle
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文献类型：
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作者：
Patrick D. Milligan;T. Palmer;John S. Lemboi;John Mosiany;S. Mutisya;Benard C. Gituku;Alfred K. Kibungei;E. G. Pringle
一些入侵蚂蚁在全球范围内分布，并对人类社会和本土生物多样性造成重大影响。然而，总的来说，我们对蚂蚁如何影响土壤生态系统知之甚少，更不用说当入侵蚂蚁迁入时，土壤生态系统会发生怎样的变化。我们在入侵和未入侵地区挖掘了一棵单一优势稀树草原树的粗根，以检验入侵蚂蚁的存在与整个景观中根分布和生物量的变化有关的假设。我们发现，在入侵蚂蚁存在的情况下，树木的侧向粗根分布发生了移动，靠近地表和远离树干的根系生物量比例较小。此外，入侵景观内树木的侧向粗根生物量密度降低了~ 20%。我们的结果表明，土壤筑巢的入侵蚂蚁可以推动树种生根策略的重要变化，这在维的松稀树草原的生物地球化学循环中起着基础性作用。
Some invasive ants have worldwide distributions and impose substantial impacts on human society and native biodiversity. Yet we know little about how ants impact soil ecosystems in general, much less how soil ecosystems shift when invasive ants move in. We excavated the coarse roots of a monodominant savanna tree in invaded and uninvaded areas to test the hypothesis that the presence of invasive ants would be associated with changes in root distribution and biomass across the landscape. We found that in the presence of invasive ants, trees had a shifted distribution of lateral coarse roots, with proportionally less root biomass near the surface and far from tree stems. In addition, the density of lateral coarse-root biomass was ~ 20% lower for trees within invaded landscapes. Our results suggest that soil-nesting invasive ants can drive important changes in rooting strategy for a tree species that serves a foundational role in the biogeochemical cycles of vertisol savannas.