Spatial clustering of twig-nesting ants corresponds with metacommunity assembly processes

Ecología Austral, 24:343-349 (2014) The metacommunity concept and associated models are poorly integrated with the field of landscape ecology. One way to promote synthesis is to identify situations in which specific metacommunity models correspond to specific and explicit spatial patterns in the distribution of communities across space. We explore this possible link using mapped communities of twig-nesting ants on coffee plants from a plantation in southern Mexico. Previous work has shown species sorting to predominate among common species and mass effects among rare species. We test whether differential patterns of spatial clustering among dominant and subdominant ant species correspond to a species sorting and mass effects model, respectively. We find significant clustering among subdominant species in two of six sites and no clustering among dominants. At the species level, significant clustering was observed in 23% of cases. These results partially support our hypothesis and may be explained mechanistically by the interstitial hypothesis, whereby rare species persist in “gaps” among dominants. At the spatial scales we examined, we found no support for the ant-mosaic. Our results suggest further study linking metacommunity models to specific and explicit spatial patterns may yield insights on pattern and process relationships in landscapes.