PRELIMINARY EXPERIMENTAL INSIGHTS INTO PARABIOTIC ANT GARDENS AS FUNCTIONAL HUBS IN AMAZONIAN FOREST GAPS

Resumo

Amazonian Ant Gardens (AGs) are a fascinating mutualism that integrates ants, plants, and epiphytes into complex structural arrangements. Among them, parabiotic AGs, jointly built by Camponotus femoratus (Fabricius) and Crematogaster levior (Longino), stand out for their wide distribution and role as effective ecosystem engineers. This integrative study investigates how these symbiotic consortia couple fundamental ecological processes, such as biotic defense and decomposition, in southern Amazonian tree-fall gaps. We evaluated the effect of AGs on defense against herbivores in plants with and without extrafloral nectaries (EFNs) and their influence on the colonization of Cecropia sciadophylla petioles by invertebrates. The presence of AGs significantly reduced herbivory and enhanced ant defensive responses, but only in EFN-bearing plants. Conversely, petiole colonization was primarily determined by size rather than by the direct presence of AGs, although the composition of the decomposer fauna was notably shifted. These findings demonstrate that parabiotic Ant Gardens play a multifaceted structuring role in Amazonian gaps, influencing different trophic levels and functionally connecting the canopy and soil through a coupled network of ecological interactions.