Effects of remnant primary forests on feeding habits of ants in a secondary forest in Sarawak, Malaysia: An isotopic study

Published Date
March 2016, Vol.6:48–54, doi:10.1016/j.fooweb.2016.02.002

• Author 

• Fujio Hyodo ^a,,
• Keiko Kishimoto-Yamada ^b
• Masayuki Matsuoka ^c
• Hiroshi O. Tanaka ^a
• Yoshiaki Hashimoto ^d
• Reiichiro Ishii ^e
• Takao Itioka ^f

• aResearch Core for Interdisciplinary Sciences, Okayama University, 3-1-1, Tsushimanaka, Okayama 700-8530, Japan
• bCenter for Toki and Ecological Restoration, Niigata University, 1101-1, Niibo-katagami, Sado, Niigata 952-0103, Japan
• cFaculty of Agriculture, Kochi University, 200, Otsu, Nankoku, Kochi 783-8502, Japan
• dUniversity of Hyogo/Museum of Nature and Human Activities, 6 Yayoigaoka, Sanda, Hyogo 669-1546, Japan
• eResearch Institute for Humanity and Nature, Kamigamo, Kyoto 603-8047, Japan
• fGraduate School of Human and Environmental Studies, Kyoto University, Yoshida-nihonmatsu, Kyoto 606-8501, Japan

Received 24 July 2015. Revised 2 February 2016. Accepted 9 February 2016. Available online 11 February 2016

Abstract 

Primary forests are known to have positive effects on the biodiversity of surrounding secondary forests. However, it is unclear whether primary forest remnants affect the feeding habits of consumers that inhabit secondary forests. Here, we examined whether the feeding habits of ants (Formicidae: Hymenoptera) belonging to four taxonomic groups (Camponotus gigas, Odontomachus rixosus, Pachycondyla spp., and Polyrhachis spp.) differed in Macaranga secondary forests with different proportions of surrounding primary forest remnants in Sarawak, Malaysia. In the secondary forests, our previous study showed that species diversity of ants significantly increased as the proportion of surrounding primary forest remnants increased. We explored feeding habits by measuring carbon and nitrogen isotope ratios (δ¹³C and δ¹⁵N). We also estimated the diet age of the ants, which represents the lag time between primary production and utilization by ants, by performing radiocarbon (Δ¹⁴C) measurements. δ¹³C of ants and litter decreased with the increase in primary forest remnants, likely indicating a more closed canopy cover around the sites. Meanwhile, baseline-corrected δ¹⁵N of ants, which considered the variation in plant δ¹⁵N among study sites, or diet ages of the ants did not show significant response to the proportion of the surrounding primary forest remnants. δ¹³C, δ¹⁵N, and diet ages showed consistent differences among the ant taxa across different proportions of primary forest remnants. These isotopic patterns suggest that, in contrast to the effect on species diversity, surrounding primary forest remnants did not markedly affect the feeding habits of the ants that persisted in the secondary forests.

Keywords

Canopy effect

Hymenoptera

Land-use change

Logging road

Tropical rain forest

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  Corresponding author.
  
  

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