An ever-increasing proportion of the forested landscape is converted to forest edges and fragments, yet the full extent of cascading effects on ecological processes and biodiversity persistence remains poorly understood. In a Brazilian-German research project, we explored this topic by asking how anthropogenic landscape alterations impact ecosystem engineers and modify their functional significance.
As a model system, we studied leaf-cutting ants (LCA), which turned hyper-abundant due to high levels of forest fragmentation across the Neotropics. I compile quantitative results on (1) the mechanisms driving LCA proliferation and (2) the manifold impacts leaf-cutting ants LCA exert on forest structure, microclimate, edaphic conditions, plant performance, and floristic and functional signature of plant assemblages.
In synthesis, we found that ecosystem engineering by LCAs is strongly context-dependent: While in undisturbed forests regional habitat diversity is enhanced through the creation of high-resource patches, anthropogenic forest transformation (i.e. high-light environments with dominance of light-demanding species) causes synergistic feedback mechanisms turning LCAs into a large-scale disturbance that promotes floristic and functional impoverishment of modern forests.
Eingeladen durch Bettina Engelbrecht
Datum | Vortragende*r | Titel |
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17:00-18:30 20.10.2011 | Prof. Dr. Heike Feldhaar Tierökologie I, Universität Bayreuth | Ecologically important traits mediated by bacterial endosymbionts [Abstract] |
17:00-18:30 27.10.2011 | Dr. Thomas Karl National Center for Atmospheric Research, Boulder, CO, USA | Putting Constraints on the Life Cycle of Reactive Organic Carbon based on Ecosystem Scale Flux Measurements [Abstract] |
17:00-18:30 03.11.2011 | Prof. Dr. Stefan Peiffer Geschäftsführender Direktor BayCEER | BayCEER Mitgliederversammlung [Abstract] |
17:00-18:30 10.11.2011 | Prof. Dr. Laurentius A.C.J. Voesenek Department of Biology, Institute of Environmental Biology, Utrecht University, NL | Waterproof Plants: escape or quiescence [Abstract] |
17:00-18:30 17.11.2011 | Dr. Markus Neteler GIS and Remote Sensing Unit at Fondazione Edmund Mach, Italy | Climatic factors driving disease vector invasions in Europe: the tiger mosquito spread and other cases [Abstract] |
17:00-18:30 24.11.2011 | Dr. Michael Radke Dept. of Applied Environmental Science, Stockholm University | Environmental fate of organic contaminants in the marine environment - the same story as in rivers and lakes? [Abstract] |
17:00-18:30 01.12.2011 | Prof. Dr. Massimo Menenti Institute of Earth Observation and Space systems (DEOS), Faculty of AeroSpace Engineering, Delft University of Technology | Observation and modeling of land surface state and convective activity over the Qinghai - Tibet Plateau [Abstract] |
17:00-18:30 08.12.2011 | Prof. Dr. Hermann Held Research Unit Sustainability & Global Change, Departments of Geosciences and Macroeconomics, University of Hamburg / KlimaCampus Hamburg | Optimal Climate Investments under System Uncertainty [Abstract] |
17:00-18:30 15.12.2011 | Prof. Dr. Stefan Schuster Department of Animal Physiology, University of Bayreuth | Prey catching in archerfish (Beutefang beim Schützenfisch) [Abstract] |
Montag S 5 (GW II) 16:00 19.12.2011 | Prof. Andrew Meharg Department of Biogeochemistry, University of Aberdeen, UK | Advanced speciation and localisation techniques to characterise arsenic in plants and soils [Abstract] |
- Vortrag fällt aus - 17:00-18:30 12.01.2012 | Dr. Markus Reichstein Max Planck Institute for Biogeochemistry, Jena | (entfällt: Current research initiatives on estimating the terrestrial carbon balance) [Abstract] |
17:00-18:30 19.01.2012 | Dr. Katharina Helming Leibniz-Zentrum für Agrarlandschaftsforschung (ZALF) e. V., Müncheberg | Ex-ante impact assessment for policy making in land use and agriculture [Abstract] |
17:00-18:30 26.01.2012 | Dr. Markus Bernhardt-Römermann Institut für Ökologie, Evolution & Diversität, Goethe-Universität Frankfurt am Main | Functional Diversity of Plant Communities [Abstract] |
17:00-18:30 02.02.2012 | Dr. Rainer Wirth Department of Plant Ecology and Systematics, Universität Kaiserslautern | Trophic disruptions and biotic homogenization in fragmented forests: Unveiling success and impact of a neotropical key herbivore (leaf-cutting ants) [Abstract] |
17:00-18:30 09.02.2012 | Dr. Angelica Feurdean Biodiversität- und Klimaforschungszentrum (BiK-F), Senckenberg, Univ. Frankfurt a. M. | The relevance of long-term data in understanding contemporary and future biotic responses: examples from the Carpathian region [Abstract] |
17:00-18:45 16.02.2012 | Prof. Francesco Dondi Department of Chemistry, University of Ferrara, Italy | Sustainability on Campus: Actions at the University of Ferrara [Abstract] |
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