Experimental corridor effects on ant seed dispersal

Habitat fragmentation impacts ecosystems worldwide through habitat loss, reduced connectivity, and edge effects. Yet, these landscape factors are often confounded, leaving much to be investigated about their relative effects, especially on species interactions. In a landscape experiment, we investigated the consequences of connectivity and edge effects for seed dispersal by ants. We found that ants dispersed seeds farther in habitat patches connected by corridors, but only in patch centers. We did not see an effect on the total number of seeds moved or the rate ants detected seeds. Furthermore, we did not see any differences in ant community composition across patch types, suggesting that shifts in ant behavior or other factors increased ant seed dispersal in patches connected by corridors. Long distance seed dispersal by ants that requires an accumulation of short distance dispersal events over generations may be an underappreciated mechanism through which corridors increase plant diversity. The following data were made publicly available to go along with our paper in Ecosphere (Burt et al. 2022). Please read metadata file for additional information.