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Canopy Science |
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Canopy Ant Community Ecology in a Rainforest Epiphyte
Scientist: Tom Fayle
Contact Email: tmf26@cam.ac.uk
Institution: University of Cambridge, UK; CAL
Project Description:
I am interested in how so many species can coexist in tropical rainforests. In order to investigate the way in which this diversity is maintained I study a rainforest microcosm: the ant assemblage of bird’s nest ferns (Asplenium spp.) a common rainforest epiphyte in Sabah Malaysia. So far I have discovered that species are able to coexist as a result of two mechanisms. Firstly, there is strong competition within species and within genera, preventing any one taxon from becoming dominant. Secondly, there is a “first-come first-served” effect whereby the first colony to arrive at a fern is able to aggressively defend the fern against other colonies of the same species or genus. See www.tomfayle.com for further details.
Participants:
Tom M. Fayle, PhD student, University of Cambridge, CAL.
William A. Foster, Supervisor, University of Cambridge.
Paul Eggleton, Supervisor, Natural History Museum, London.
Gibby, Royal Society Research Assistant, BCAP & ACAP graduate.
Project Location: Danum Valley, Sabah, Malaysia
Added Date: 23-Oct-2009
Publications:
Fayle T.M., Eggleton P. & Foster W.A. (In preparation). Assembly rules and species diversity maintenance in an epiphyte-dwelling ant community.
Fayle T.M., Edwards D.P., Chung A.Y.C., Dumbrell A.J., Eggleton P. & Foster W.A. (In preparation). The structure of a highly diverse epiphyte-dwelling rain forest ant community in Sabah, Malaysia.
Fayle T.M., Turner E.C., Snaddon J.L. & Foster W.A. (In review) What are the impacts of oil palm expansion on ants? (Resubmitted to Basic and Applied Ecology following first review).
Edwards D.P., Ansell F.A., Woodcock P, Fayle T.M., Hamer K.C. (In press) Lack of a host sanction correlates with prolific cheating in an ant-palm symbiosis. Oikos.
Fayle T.M., Chung A.Y.C., Dumbrell A.J., Eggleton P. & Foster W.A. (In press, cover of November 2009 issue). The Effect of Rain Forest Canopy Architecture on the Distribution of Epiphytic Ferns (Asplenium spp.) in Sabah, Malaysia. Biotropica.
Fayle T.M., Ellwood M.D.F., Turner E.C., Snaddon J.L., Yusah K.M. & Foster W.A. (2008). Bird‟s nest ferns: islands of biodiversity in the rainforest canopy. Antenna, 32(1), 34-37.
Turner E.C., Snaddon J.L., Fayle T.M. & Foster W.A. (2008). Oil Palm Research in Context: Identifying the Need for Biodiversity Assessment. PLoS ONE, 3, e1572.
Disney R.H.L. & Fayle T.M. (2008). A New Species of Scuttle Fly (Diptera: Phoridae) Parasitizing an Ant (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) in Borneo. Sociobiology, 51, 327-332.
Photo Title: Sampling the ant communities from a bird's nest fern (Asplenium sp.)
Photo Credits: Frazer Sinclair
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