Altitudinal distribution of leaf litter ants along a transect in primary forests on Mount Kinabalu, Sabah, Malaysia

Carsten A. Brühl; Maryati Mohamed; K. Eduard Linsenmair

doi:10.1017/S0266467499000802

Abstract

Core share and HTML view are not available for this content. However, as you have access to this content, a full PDF is available via the ‘Save PDF’ action button.

The ant communities of the leaf litter were studied along an elevational gradient on Mount Kinabalu in primary rain forest systems ranging from dipterocarp hill forest to dwarf forest of the highest altitudes (560, 800, 1130, 1360, 1530, 1740, 1930, 2025, 2300, 2600 m a.s.l.). The litter ant fauna along the gradient included 283 species of 55 genera. The number of ant species in the leaf litter decreased exponentially without evidence of a peak in species richness at mid-elevations. This result is in contrast to many findings on altitudinal gradients in ants and other animal groups. Most ant species have a very limited altitudinal range leading to high turnover values when comparing communities of different altitudes. Of the ant species, 74% were even restricted to one site. As evident from this study, altitudinal ranges of species are very narrow. Elevational gradients are therefore extremely species-rich and might serve as a prime example of hot spots of biodiversity. This fact is of great concern when implementing conservation strategies.

Crossref Citations

This article has been cited by the following publications. This list is generated based on data provided by Crossref.

Navas, Carlos A 2002. Herpetological diversity along Andean elevational gradients: links with physiological ecology and evolutionary physiology. Comparative Biochemistry and Physiology Part A: Molecular & Integrative Physiology, Vol. 133, Issue. 3, p. 469.

Stegmann, U. E. Webb, M. D. and Linsenmair, K. E. 2002. New species, synonymies and life-histories in the South-East Asian treehopper genus Pyrgauchenia Breddin (Auchenorrhyncha: Membracidae: Centrotinae). Journal of Natural History, Vol. 36, Issue. 3, p. 279.

Grytnes, John Arvid and Vetaas, Ole R. 2002. Species Richness and Altitude: A Comparison between Null Models and Interpolated Plant Species Richness along the Himalayan Altitudinal Gradient, Nepal. The American Naturalist, Vol. 159, Issue. 3, p. 294.

Sanders, Nathan J. 2002. Elevational gradients in ant species richness: area, geometry, and Rapoport's rule. Ecography, Vol. 25, Issue. 1, p. 25.

Vetaas, Ole R. and Grytnes, John‐Arvid 2002. Distribution of vascular plant species richness and endemic richness along the Himalayan elevation gradient in Nepal. Global Ecology and Biogeography, Vol. 11, Issue. 4, p. 291.

Brehm, Gunnar Süssenbach, Dirk and Fiedler, Konrad 2003. Unique elevational diversity patterns of geometrid moths in an Andean montane rainforest. Ecography, Vol. 26, Issue. 4, p. 456.

Berghoff, S. M. Maschwitz, U. and Linsenmair, K. E. 2003. Hypogaeic and epigaeic ant diversity on Borneo: evaluation of baited sieve buckets as a study method. Tropical Zoology, Vol. 16, Issue. 2, p. 153.

Malsch, Annette K. F. Rosciszewski, Krzysztof and Maschwitz, Ulrich 2003. Pasoh. p. 347.

Stuntz, Sabine Linder, Christian Linsenmair, Karl Eduard Simon, Ulrich and Zotz, Gerhard 2003. Do non-myrmocophilic epiphytes influence community structure of arboreal ants?. Basic and Applied Ecology, Vol. 4, Issue. 4, p. 363.

Sanders, Nathan J. Moss, Jarrod and Wagner, Diane 2003. Patterns of ant species richness along elevational gradients in an arid ecosystem. Global Ecology and Biogeography, Vol. 12, Issue. 2, p. 93.

Brehm, Gunnar and Fiedler, Konrad 2003. Faunal composition of geometrid moths changes with altitude in an Andean montane rain forest. Journal of Biogeography, Vol. 30, Issue. 3, p. 431.

Ellison, Aaron M. 2004. Bayesian inference in ecology. Ecology Letters, Vol. 7, Issue. 6, p. 509.

Bhattarai, Khem R. Vetaas, Ole R. and Grytnes, John A. 2004. Fern species richness along a central Himalayan elevational gradient, Nepal. Journal of Biogeography, Vol. 31, Issue. 3, p. 389.

TALLENTS, LUCY A. LOVETT, JON C. HALL, JOHN B. and HAMILTON, ALAN C. 2005. Phylogenetic diversity of forest trees in the Usambara mountains of Tanzania: correlations with altitude. Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society, Vol. 149, Issue. 2, p. 217.

Krell, Frank-Thorsten Chung, Arthur Y.C. DeBoise, Emma Eggleton, Paul Giusti, Alessandro Inward, Kelly and Krell-Westerwalbesloh, Sylvia 2005. Quantitative extraction of macro-invertebrates from temperate and tropical leaf litter and soil: efficiency and time-dependent taxonomic biases of the Winkler extraction. Pedobiologia, Vol. 49, Issue. 2, p. 175.

FEDERLE, WALTER and RHEINDT, FRANK E. 2005. Macaranga ant-plants hide food from intruders: correlation of food presentation and presence of wax barriers analysed using phylogenetically independent contrasts. Biological Journal of the Linnean Society, Vol. 84, Issue. 2, p. 177.

Santos, Mônica S. Louzada, Júlio N. C. Dias, Nívia Zanetti, Ronald Delabie, Jacques H. C. and Nascimento, Ivan C. 2006. Riqueza de formigas (Hymenoptera, Formicidae) da serapilheira em fragmentos de floresta semidecídua da Mata Atlântica na região do Alto do Rio Grande, MG, Brasil. Iheringia. Série Zoologia, Vol. 96, Issue. 1, p. 95.

O’DONNELL, SEAN and KUMAR, ANJALI 2006. Microclimatic factors associated with elevational changes in army ant density in tropical montane forest. Ecological Entomology, Vol. 31, Issue. 5, p. 491.

Bhattarai, Khem Raj and Vetaas, Ole R. 2006. Can Rapoport's rule explain tree species richness along the Himalayan elevation gradient, Nepal?. Diversity and Distributions, Vol. 12, Issue. 4, p. 373.

Almeida‐Neto, Mário Machado, Glauco Pinto‐da‐Rocha, Ricardo and Giaretta, Ariovaldo A. 2006. Harvestman (Arachnida: Opiliones) species distribution along three Neotropical elevational gradients: an alternative rescue effect to explain Rapoport's rule?. Journal of Biogeography, Vol. 33, Issue. 2, p. 361.

Download full list

Article contents

Altitudinal distribution of leaf litter ants along a transect in primary forests on Mount Kinabalu, Sabah, Malaysia

Abstract

Keywords

This article has been cited by the following publications. This list is generated based on data provided by Crossref.

Article contents

Altitudinal distribution of leaf litter ants along a transect in primary forests on Mount Kinabalu, Sabah, Malaysia

Abstract

Keywords

Save article to Kindle

Save article to Dropbox

Save article to Google Drive

Reply to: Submit a response

Your details

You have entered the maximum number of contributors

Conflicting interests