Christian Platner

Intraguild interactions between spiders and ants and top-down control in a grassland food web

In most terrestrial ecosystems ants (Formicidae) as eusocial insects and spiders (Araneida) as solitary trappers and hunters are key predators. To study the role of predation by these generalist predators in a dry grassland, we manipulated densities of ants and spiders (natural and low density) in a two-factorial field experiment using fenced plots. The experiment revealed strong intraguild interactions between ants and spiders. Higher densities of ants negatively affected the abundance and biomass of web-building spiders. The density of Linyphiidae was threefold higher in plots without ant colonies. The abundance of Formica cunicularia workers was significantly higher in spider-removal plots. Also, population size of springtails (Collembola) was negatively affected by the presence of wandering spiders. Ants reduced the density of Lepidoptera larvae. In contrast, the abundance of coccids (Ortheziidae) was positively correlated with densities of ants. To gain a better understanding of the position of spiders, ants and other dominant invertebrate groups in the studied food web and important trophic links, we used a stable isotope analysis (15N and 13C). Adult wandering spiders were more enriched in 15N relative to 14N than juveniles, indicating a shift to predatory prey groups. Juvenile wandering and web-building spiders showed δ15N ratios just one trophic level above those of Collembola, and they had similar δ13C values, indicating that Collembola are an important prey group for ground living spiders. The effects of spiders demonstrated in the field experiment support this result. We conclude that the food resource of spiders in our study system is largely based on the detrital food web and that their effects on herbivores are weak. The effects of ants are not clear-cut and include predation as well as mutualism with herbivores. Within this diverse predator guild, intraguild interactions are important structuring forces.

Communities of ground-living spiders in deciduous forests: Does tree species diversity matter?

The relationships between species diversity and ecosystem functions are in the focus of recent ecological research. However, until now the influence of species diversity on ecosystem processes such as decomposition or mineral cycling is not well understood. In deciduous forests, spiders are an integral part of the forest floor food web. In the present study, patterns of spider diversity and community structure are related to diversity of deciduous forest stands in the Hainich National Park (Thuringia). In 2005, pitfall trapping and quantitative forest floor sampling were conducted in nine plots of forest stands with one (Diversity Level 1), three (DL 2) and five (DL 3) major deciduous tree species. Species richness, measured with both methods, as well as spider abundance in forest floor samples were highest in stands with medium diversity (DL 2) and lowest in pure beech stands (DL 1). The Shannon-Wiener index and spider numbers in pitfall traps decreased from DL 1 to DL 3, while the Shannon-Wiener index in forest floor samples increased in the opposite direction. Spider community composition differed more strongly between single plots than between diversity levels. Altogether, no general relationship between increasing tree species diversity and patterns of diversity and abundance in spider communities was found. It appears that there is a strong influence of single tree species dominating a forest stand and modifying structural habitat characteristics such as litter depth and herb cover which are important for ground-living spiders.

Nutrient dynamics in a tritrophic system of ants, aphids and beans.

The interactions between ants (Lasius niger), aphids (Aphis fabae) and plants (Phaseolus vulgaris) were studied in a laboratory experiment with the following treatments: application of N‐fertilizer for plants, supply of mealworms or sugar solution or their combination as alternative food sources for ants. Three main questions were studied: (1) Do ants reduce tending to honeydew‐producing aphids when an alternative sugar or protein resource was available? (2) Is aphid predation/protein consumption by ants higher when additional carbon is offered to maintain the carbon/protein balance? (3) Does fertilizer treatment propagate in the food web? For the experimental analysis stable isotope techniques were applied. δ15N served as a marker for the pathway from plants to higher trophic levels. Low δ15N‐value of fertilizer spread from plant shoots to aphids and ants. To trace which sugar‐/protein source was consumed by ants, the different 13C/12C‐ratios of C3‐ and C4‐plants were used with aphids feeding on C3‐plant material, while mealworm food and sugar solution originated from C4‐plant material. Fertilizer application had no effect on biomasses of plants, consumers or microflora. Ant biomass was significantly higher when additional sugar solution was offered. Higher contents of 13C indicated a high incorporation rate of additional sugar. Additional protein had no effect on colony biomass and no increasing predation on aphids could be observed when carbon was in excess. However, due to the lack of queens and newly produced larvae, protein requirements of experimental colonies were lower than in natural systems. Ants positively affected aphid populations, but reduced tending, whilst having access to an alternative sugar resource. When sugar/protein was offered to ants, the host plant had an increased root/shoot ratio. This indicates that decreasing aboveground activity of ants could lead to reduced plant growth of aphid‐infested plants, presumably due to higher fungal attack on shoots.

Potential positive effect of the ant species Lasius niger on linyphiid spiders

Ants are highly abundant generalist predators and important ecosystem engineers which can strongly affect the composition of animal communities. We manipulated the density of the ant species Lasius niger with baits in a small‐scale field experiment to study the role of intraguild predation, top‐down control and bottom‐up effects of ants in a dry grassland surrounded by agricultural fields. Two different kinds of baits (honey and tuna) were presented near to the nests and at a distance of 2 m from six L. niger colonies in a dry grassland habitat, where L. niger was a highly abundant, omnipresent species. The experiments were performed for 1 month in spring. Additionally, the natural abundance of L. niger varying with the distance to their nests was used to study the effects on spiders and potential prey groups. The activity of L. niger was significantly higher at tuna baits compared with that at honey baits and empty control dishes. We found no effects of higher activity of L. niger on the arthropod community. However, there is evidence for a facilitation effect of ants on Collembola near to their colonies, probably due to habitat modification, which also influenced the density of Linyphiidae. Both groups had up to four times higher denisities next to L. niger colonies than at a distance of 2 m. Furthermore, δ13C values demonstrated that linyphiid spiders and L. niger predominantly feed on Collembola. We conclude that there is no evidence of top‐down effects of L. niger in a grassland in spring, but we found a facilitation of linyphiid spiders and their prey by the ants, which acted as ecosystem engineers.

Evaluating the importance of trophobiosis in a Mediterranean ant community: a stable isotope analysis

Trophobiosis between aphids (Aphididae, Hemiptera) and ants (Formicidae, Hymenoptera) is considered to provide an important source of nutrition for ants by aphid honeydew and aphids themselves used as prey. However, little is known about nutrient fluxes and the relative importance of trophobiosis for different ant species. Combining direct contact observations between ants and aphids with stable isotope analyses of distinct multitrophic sample sets (soil, plant, aphid, and ant), we aimed at disentangling the importance of trophobiosis in a Mediterranean food web and possible feedbacks on the functional diversity of ants in a species-rich organic Citrus plantation. We analyzed δ13C- and δ15N-values of sample sets for fertilized and natural soil, using the fertilizer as natural isotope label. The results showed trophic relationships between 18 host plant species, 22 aphid species, and 7 ant species. Direct observation revealed at least 40 different plant–aphid combinations and 25 aphid–ant combinations with a marked range of δ15N-values. However, the δ13C and δ15N isotope ratios still reflected the trophic levels. A significant correlation occurred between the isotope ratios of aphids and their host plants. However, no relationship was found between aphids and ants or between plants and ants revealing that many ant species do not exhibit a close relationship with their trophobiotic partners. Isotopic data allowed us to separate ant species into trophic functional groups and showed the relevance of other food resources. The applied fertilizer shifted the isotopic baseline for the whole trophic system. By combining the stable isotope analysis with the exact origin of the samples, we avoided a misleading interpretation of the high isotopic range of species. Thus, we emphasize the importance of considering a baseline in stable isotope food web studies.