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Leaf-cutting ants and early forest regeneration in central Amazonia: effects of herbivory on tree seedling establishment

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 July 2009

Heraldo L. Vasconcelos  and
J. Malcolm Cherrett
Heraldo L. Vasconcelos
Affiliation:
Coordenaçāo de Pesquisas em Ecologia, Instituto National de Pesquisas da Amazônia (INPA), C.P. 478, 69011-970 Manaus, AM, Brazil
J. Malcolm Cherrett
Affiliation:
School of Biological Sciences, University of Wales, Bangor, Gwynedd LL57 2UW, UK
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Abstract

The effects of herbivory by the leaf-cutting ant Atta laevigata Fr. Smith on the re-establishment of forest trees in an abandoned farm near Manaus, central Amazonia, were investigated. Experimental seedling transplants and observations on seedlings which emerged naturally in the study area showed that damage by leaf-cutting ants negatively affected tree seedling survival and growth. However, excluding leaf-cutting ants from experimental plots for 20 mo did not significantly increase tree seedling densities. The number of seedlings emerging varied considerably between plots and this obscured any effect the ants may have had on seedling survivorship. Taller seedlings, and seedlings attacked only once, suffered less mortality than smaller seedlings and seedlings attacked twice or more. In general, mortality was greater for those species preferred by the ants, indicating that selective herbivory by leaf-cutting ants affects tree species composition. The number of seedlings attacked by A. laevigata remained approximately constant throughout the period of this study in spite of the fact that the number available for attack increased. Thus, the chance of any individual seedling being attacked declined with time, suggesting that the effect of Atta herbivory on tree establishment is stronger during the first few years of forest regeneration.

Keywords

antsAmazoniaAtta laevigataherbivorysecondary succession
Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Tropical Ecology , Volume 13 , Issue 3 , May 1997 , pp. 357 - 370
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1997

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