Studies on refulation of herbivores by ants in tropical rain forests

为了阐明婆罗洲热带雨林林冠中蚂蚁的种类组成、数量和空间分布，利用马来西亚沙捞越州Lambir国家公园龙脑香林林冠观测系统，对15个树种的林冠中蚂蚁数量进行了多次普查。此外，为了分析蚂蚁对食草动物的影响，还调查了食草动物的丰度和食草动物对树木叶片的损害。此外，还研究了森林冠层中有无附生植物和气生土壤对蚂蚁巢址的影响，结果表明，很少有蚂蚁同时利用地面和树上的空间作为其巢域，蚂蚁在森林冠层中的空间分布比较稳定，某些蚂蚁更喜欢选择森林冠层或附生植物作为其巢址。一些蚂蚁通常以地面为家域，但也会暂时将家域扩展到树干表面，而一些蚂蚁则栖息在森林冠层的附生植物的虫巢中。这两种蚂蚁的家域在空间上几乎没有重叠，可能会间接影响其他物种在林冠上的空间分布。因此，可以推测林冠蚂蚁群落中存在着强烈的种间竞争。这些数据表明，蚂蚁殖民附生植物可能会调节丰富的藤本植物和其他附生植物，并通过调节间接影响其他蚂蚁的空间分布。草食动物的损害和蚂蚁的丰度之间的关系的数据表明，这些蚂蚁物种可能显着的功能作为捕食者调节草食动物的树木。

To elucidate the species composition, abundance and spatial distribution of ants in the forest canopy of a tropical rain forest in Borneo, ant abundance were censused in the forest canopy of 15 tree species several times in the dipterocarp forest at Lambir National Park in Sarawak, Malaysia, using the system for observation of forest canopy there. In addition, to analyze the effects of ants on the herbivores, herbivore abundance and herbivory damage on leaves of the trees were also censused. Moreover, the effects of presence of epiphytes and aerial soil in the forest canopy on the availability of nest sites for ants were studied in the field.The results suggested that few species of ants utilize space both on the ground and on trees as their home range, that spatial distribution of ant species in the forest canopy is rather stable, and that particular ant species prefer the forest canopy or epiphytes for their nest sites. A few ant species that usually use the ground surface as their home range were observed to expand the range onto the surface of the tree trunk temporarily, and ant species that settle in the domatia of some epiphytes were often observed to be dominant in the forest canopy. The home ranges of these two types of ant species showed little overlap spatially, and were likely to have indirect influences on the spatial distribution of the other species in the forest canopy. Thus, it is presumed hat there is strong interspecific competition in the ant community in the forest canopy. The data suggest the possibility that ants that colonize epiphytes might regulate the abundance of lianas and other epiphytes and indirectly affect the spatial distribution of the other ants through the regulation. The data on the relations between herbivory damage and ant abundance suggest that these ant species might significantly function as predator regulating herbivores on the trees.