Biology subjects

Perfecto, I.

Publications and source records attributed to Perfecto, I..

5 recordsLinked to original sources

bioRxiv2024

Consistent and scalable monitoring of birds and habitats along a coffee production intensity gradient

Land use change associated with agricultural intensification is a leading driver of biodiversity loss in the tropics. To evaluate the habitat-biodiversity relationship in production systems of tropical agricultural commodities, which is critical for certifying and examining the success of biodiversity-friendly agricultural practices, birds are commonly used as indicators. However, consistently and reliably monitoring how bird communities are affected by land use change throughout the annual cycle in a way that can be scalable is challenging using traditional survey methods. In this study, we examined whether the automated analysis of audio data collected by passive acoustic monitoring, together with the analysis of remote sensing data, can be used to efficiently monitor avian biodiversity along the gradient of habitat degradation associated with the intensification of coffee production. Coffee is an important crop produced in tropical forested regions, whose production is expanding and intensifying, and coffee production systems form a gradient of ecological complexity ranging from forest-like shaded polyculture to dense sun-exposed monoculture. We used LiDAR technology to survey the habitat, in combination with autonomous recording units and a vocalisation classification algorithm to assess bird community composition in a coffee landscape comprising a shade-grown coffee farm, a sun coffee farm, and a forest remnant, located in southern Mexico. We found that combining LiDAR with the automated analysis of continuously collected bioacoustics data can capture the expected functional signatures of avian communities as a function of habitat quality in the coffee landscape. Thus, we show that this approach can be a robust way to monitor how biodiversity responds to land use intensification in the tropics. A major advantage of this approach is that it has the potential to be deployed cost-effectively at large scales to help design and certify biodiversity-friendly productive landscapes.

ecology↗

bioRxiv2023

Above- and below-ground links mediated by arboreal ants and host tree modify soil aggregation scaling, infiltration, and chemistry

Soils are increasingly recognized as complex systems, emphasizing a need to study unique properties such as long-tailed scaling laws and the role of indirect interactions among arboreal above- and below-ground soil invertebrates. However, few studies consider the above-below-ground connections mediated by invertebrates activity and behavior compared to mediated by tree physiology. Given previous work showing that arboreal ants can compete and affect ground foragers as well as alter foraging behavior on different host trees, it is plausible that persistent above-ground ant nesting could extend to affect soil properties including structure and chemistry, mediated by ground ant exclusion. This study analyzes soil aggregation, water infiltration, and macro-chemical data associated with longer-term (5+ year) ant nesting in a rustic tropical agroforest. Results show that, 1) ant nesting maintained scaling law exponents or fractal dimensions of soil aggregate size distributions, and was significantly associated with relatively larger micro-aggregate diameters and log-normal variance in macro-aggregate size distributions, suggesting more consistent (less variable) underlying aggregation processes similar to host tree species effects; 2) areas in the vicinity of trees with no dominant ant nests had three-times faster water infiltration than in the vicinity of trees with dominant ant nests; and 3) a tendency toward changes in soil carbon and nitrogen stocks by one-quarter depending on host tree. These patterns are consistent with expected effects of ground ant suppression by an aggressive keystone arboreal ant, and are supported by previous studies reporting positive ground ant nest effects on soil chemistry and documenting ground ant foraging as a source of soil aggregate fragmentation. This study presents new ecological processes affecting ecosystem-scale functions, and suggests that future research on indirect interaction cascades would be beneficial to advance fundamental understanding of whole-ecosystem processes.

ecology↗

bioRxiv2023

Keystone competitor creates spatial patterns of biodiversity

Conventional ecological theory on competition and competitive exclusion states that competition should limit diversity. However, diversity of all species is more common than competitive exclusion would suggest, especially in the tropics. Here, we use theoretical and field approaches to examine the relationship between a keystone ant competitor (Azteca sericeasur) and the richness of a ground-foraging ant community in a spatially explicit context. Theoretically, we demonstrate that a fixed keystone competitor can increase species diversity. In addition, we sampled the ground-foraging ant community in three differentially managed coffee habitats and found - with the exception of plots in the most intensified coffee habitat - a consistently higher species richness near to the keystone competitor and lower richness with increasing distance. These patterns show that keystone competitors may contribute to the maintenance of local species richness.

ecology↗

bioRxiv2021

High-order interactions maintain or enhance structural robustness of a coffee agroecosystem network

The capacity of highly diverse systems to prevail has proven difficult to explain. In addition to methodological issues, the inherent complexity of ecosystems and issues like multicausality, non-linearity and context-specificity make it hard to establish general and unidirectional explanations. Nevertheless, in recent years, high order interactions have been increasingly discussed as a mechanism that benefits the functioning of highly diverse ecosystems and may add to the mechanisms that explain their persistence. Until now, this idea has been explored by means of hypothetical simulated networks. Here, we test this idea using an updated and empirically documented network for a coffee agroecosystem. We identify potentially key nodes and measure network robustness in the face of node removal with and without incorporation of high order interactions. We find that the systems robustness is either increased or unaffected by the addition of high order interactions, in contrast with randomized counterparts with similar structural characteristics. We also propose a method for representing networks with high order interactions as ordinary graphs and a method for measuring their robustness. HighlightsO_LIThe robustness of a coffee-associated ecological network is either increased or unaffected by the incorporation of high order interactions. C_LIO_LIA method is proposed for representing high order interactions in ordinary networks. C_LIO_LIA method is proposed to measure the robustness of networks with high order interactions. C_LIO_LIHigh order interactions may promote the persistence of diverse ecosystems. C_LI

ecology↗

bioRxiv2017

Competitive release from native range does not predict invasive success of a globally dominant exotic ant species

A major goal of invasion biology is to understand under what conditions exotic species thrive in the introduced range. High competitive abilities are thought to be an important characteristic of exotic species. Most invasion studies focus on the competitive ability of exotic species in the introduced range and attribute their ecological success to competitive release, but fewer studies have compared the relative competitive differences within the native range. These comparative studies are important in order to determine if competitive abilities of exotic species are strong predictors of invasion success. The little fire ant Wasmmnia auropunctata is a highly invasive species that has spread from its original range (Central and South America) to becoming a globally distributed exotic species in recent decades. It is generally accepted that island ecosystems offer weak biotic resistance to exotic species as compared to their native range. Here, we examined this empirically by comparing the relative competitive difference of W. auropunctata and locally dominant ants, between its native range of Mexico and introduced range of Puerto Rico. Resource competition was assessed between W. auropunctata and native ants under field conditions and in the laboratory. Furthermore, we compared resource competition at different temporal intervals ranging from short-term (< 2 hours) to long-term (14-days) dynamics. Our results are in contrast to common invasion predictions on island communities because we show that native species were resistant to W. auropunctata in its introduced range of Puerto Rico. We observed that the ground-foraging ant Solenopsis invicta competitive displaced W. auropunctata in Puerto Rico during short-term experiments. Meanwhile, the native arboreal ant Linepithema iniquum withstood competitive pressure from W. auropunctata. In the native range of Mexico, W. auropunctata was superior against Solenopsis Picea and Pheidole protensa species, but was outcompeted by dominant ants Solenopsis geminata and Pheidole synanthropica. This study challenges the relative importance of competitive ability in predicting invasion success. This is one of the few detailed comparative studies that examines exotic species performance between native and introduced habitats.

ecology↗