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City ant, desert ant: investigating the changing dynamics of ant-tree cholla mutualisms along an urbanization gradient in Albuquerque, NM
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Lynch, Shannon C.. City ant, desert ant: investigating the changing dynamics of ant-tree cholla mutualisms along an urbanization gradient in Albuquerque, NM. Retrieved from https://doi.org/doi:10.7282/t3-mq9x-cd27

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TitleCity ant, desert ant: investigating the changing dynamics of ant-tree cholla mutualisms along an urbanization gradient in Albuquerque, NM
NameLynch, Shannon C. (author); Savage, Amy M (chair); Rutgers University; Camden Graduate School
Date Created2020
Other Date2020-05 (degree)
SubjectMutualism (Biology), Biology
Extent1 online resource (viii, 30 pages)
DescriptionAnthropogenic modifications are impacting ecosystems across the globe. Urbanization, possibly the most widespread and multifaceted, can have significant influence over species coping with anthropogenic stressors. Mutualistic interactions play important roles in the reproduction and survival of many plants and animals, thus it is imperative we understand how urbanization can influence these interactions. I investigated the effect of urbanization through the lens of an ant-plant mutualism between tree cholla cacti and their ant defenders. Specifically, I first examined how plant size, ant species richness & composition, and ant activity varied on tree cholla cacti across an urbanization gradient from Albuquerque, NM to the Sevilleta National Wildlife Refuge. I experimentally assessed how nectar supplementation influenced ant aggressive encounters with proxy prey on tree cholla across open spaces and desert wildlands. The questions this study investigated were: 1) how do plant traits and ant communities (richness, composition, and activity) differ across the urbanization gradient? 2) how do the defensive services provided by ants vary across open spaces and desert remnants? Ant communities significantly varied across site type while tree cholla size showed no effect. I found that desert ant communities were very distinct; they had the highest activity with the lowest richness and most dissimilar composition. Ant aggression varied similarly across site types with desert ants being the most aggressive for all behaviors (discovery, attack, and removal) while only discovery and attack occurred at quicker rates for supplemented plants. Ant aggression varied a lot less across nectar supplementation, with supplemented ants being the most aggressive for only removal while discovery and attack occurred at quicker rates for supplemented plants. Examination of the nectar quality and herbivorous arthropod abundance may help explain why this strong difference in ant composition and defense is not correlated with lower plant fitness (i.e. size traits). Nevertheless, this study provides unique insight into the growing body of work demonstrating that mutualisms vary significantly across urbanization gradients.
NoteM.S.
NoteIncludes bibliographical references
Genretheses, ETD graduate
Persistent URLhttps://doi.org/doi:10.7282/t3-mq9x-cd27
LanguageEnglish
CollectionCamden Graduate School Electronic Theses and Dissertations
Organization NameRutgers, The State University of New Jersey
RightsThe author owns the copyright to this work.
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