Body size and microclimate use in Neotropical granivorous ants

Abstract

The stability of tropical microclimates has left microclimate use by tropical species little unexplored. At La Selva Costa Rica, I related foraging activity at seed baits to humidity in two forests types. I recorded 38 and 35 ant species at seed baits in closed and open canopy forest. The microclimate 5 cm above the forest floor in the younger, Open Forest was warmer, drier, more variable, and more sensitive to current weather than in the older Closed Forest. Ant species within both forests foraged at different Vapor Pressure Deficits (kPa), a measure of the drying power of the air. VPD use was not confounded with diel activity patterns. Body size explained 46% of the variance in mean VPD use among ant species. Small ant species tended to forage in moist microclimates; large species tended to be microclimate generalists. Larger species were also more active in the drier Open Forest. Foraging activity by these assemblages varies 4-fold, and peaks close to the mean VPD for each habitat. The behavior of these assemblages suggest that 1) small ant species at La Selva potentially compete with the entire range of ant body sizes, whereas large ants forage when and where small ants are inactive; and 2) seeds dispersed to the forest floor at dawn will be consumed or further dispersed by a larger suite of ants species than those falling in the heat of the tropical afternoon.