Electronic Supplementary File 1

Electronic supplementary file 1

Article title: Ant species and functional composition across the Subantarctic-Patagonian transition zone

Journal of Insect Conservation

Paula Nilda Fergnani*, Paula Sackmann and Adriana Ruggiero

Laboratorio Ecotono. Centro Regional Universitario Bariloche. Universidad Nacional del Comahue, INIBIOMA-CONICET, San Carlos de Bariloche, Argentina

*Corresponding autor:

Table. S1 List of species caught, and proportional occupancy of each species. Species´ habitat distributions were determined based on the presence of each species in one (Forest, Steppe), two (Forest-Shrubland, Steppe-Shrubland, Forest-Steppe) or three (Ubiquitous: present in the forests, shrublands and steppes) habitats, and without taking into account the relative frequency of occurrence of each species in each habitat (see other details on main text). Species with significant IndVal (>25%) are indicated for forests (F), steppes (St), and shrublands (Sh). Proportional occupancy (%) is the proportion of sites occupied by each species over the total number of sites sampled in the forests (N = 17), shrublands (N = 9), and steppes (N = 24).

Habitat
distribution / Subfamily / Species / Forests
(%) / Shrublands
(%) / Steppes
(%) / IndVal
(%) / Nesting
microhabitat / Foraging behaviour / Functional Groups
(sensu Andersen 2000)
Ubiquitous / Dolichoderinae / Dorymyrmex richteri / 6
P = 0.007 / 22
P = 0.119 / 58
P = 0.416 / 48 (St) / In soil
open sites
under stones
under fecal pats
(Kusnezov 1959, Fergnani, pers. observ.) / Generalized forager/Predator (Brown 2000, Kusnezov 1959) / Opportunist
Ubiquitous / Dolichoderinae / Dorymyrmex tener / 41
P = 0.469 / 56
P = 0.416 / 42
P = 0.739
Ubiquitous / Dolichoderinae / Dorymyrmex wolffhuegeli / 6
P = 0.007 / 22
P = 0.119 / 29
P = 0.049
Ubiquitous / Formicinae / Brachymyrmex patagonica / 35
P = 0.232 / 67
P = 0.327 / 100
P = 0.993 / 67 (St) / Open sites
under stones (Kusnezov 1959) / Generalized forager (Brown 2000) / Tropical climate specialist
(Brown 2000)
Ubiquitous / Formicinae / Camponotus distinguendus / 53
P = 0.808 / 44
P = 0.739 / 25
P = 0.02 / 25 (F) / In soil
under stones roots of trees and shrubs (Kusnezov 1959) / Generalized forager
(Brown 2000) / Subordinate Camponotini
Ubiquitous / Formicinae / Lasiophanes picinus / 100
P = 0.994 / 44
P = 0.739 / 8
P = 0.002 / 74 (F) / In soil
under stones
logs
dead wood
under fecal pats
(Kusnezov 1951, Fergnani pers. obs) / Generalized forager (Brown 2000) / Cold climate
Specialist
Ubiquitous / Formicinae / Lasiophanes valdiviensis / 12
P = 0.007 / 78
P = 0.119 / 42
P = 0.416 / 29
(Sh)
Ubiquitous / Myrmicinae / Pogonomyrmex odoratus / 24
P = 0.04 / 22
P = 0.119 / 4
P = 0.002 / Open sites,
in soil
(Kusnezov 1959) / Seed harvester
(Kusnezov 1959) / Hot climate specialist
Ubiquitous / Myrmicinae / Solenopsis patagonica / 12
P = 0.007 / 33
P = 0.327 / 29
P = 0.049 / Open sites
in ground under stones (Brown 2000, Kusnezov 1949, 1959) / Generalized forager
(Brown 2000) / Hot climate specialist
Forest / Formicinae / Lasiophanes atriventris / 12
P = 0.002 / 0 / 0 / Tree holes, beneath barks fallen trees (Kusnezov 1951) / Generalized forager (Brown 2000) / Cold climate specialist
Forest / Formicinae / Myrmelachista schachovskoi / 12
P = 0.002 / 0 / 0 / Nothophagus wood
(Kusnezov 1959) / Cryptic species
(Brown 2000) / Cryptic species
(sensu Brown 2000)
Forest-Shrubland / Formicinae / Camponotus chilensis / 47
P = 0.808 / 22
P = 0.118 / 0 / 38 (F) / In ground
logs
dead wood lignicolous (Kusnezov 1959) / Generalized forager (Brown 2000) / Subordinate
Camponotini
Forest-Shrubland / Formicinae / Myrmelachista vicina / 18
P = 0.015 / 11
P = 0.05 / 0 / Nothophagus wood
(Kusnezov 1959) / Cryptic species
(Brown 2000) / Cryptic species
(sensu Brown 2000)
Forest-Shrubland / Myrmicinae / Monomorium denticulatum / 100
P = 0.07 / 11
P = 0.05 / 0 / 94 (F) / In soil
litter
fallen trees humid sites (Kusnezov 1959) / Generalized forager (Brown 2000) / Generalized
Myrmicinae
Forest-Shrubland / Myrmicinae / Pogonomyrmex angustus / 6
P = 0.007 / 22
P = 0.119 / 0 / in soil
(Kusnezov 1959) / Seed harvester
(Kusnezov 1959) / Hot climate specialist
Steppe-Shrubland / Dolichoderinae / Acromyrmex lobicornis / 0 / 11
P = 0.05 / 42
P = 0.416 / In ground
(Brown 2000) / Cultivators of fungi (Brown 2000) / Hot climate specialist*
Steppe-Shrubland / Dolichoderinae / Camponotus punctulatus / 0 / 11
P = 0.05 / 25
P = 0.02 / 21 (St) / In ground (Brown 2000) / Generalized forager (Brown 2000) / Subordinate
Camponotini
Steppe-Shrubland / Dolichoderinae / Dorymyrmex antarcticus / 0 / 78
P = 0.118 / 67
P = 0.109 / 46 (St) / Open sites sandy soil
stony soil (Cuezzo pers. comm.) / Generalized forager/Predator (Brown 2000, Kusnezov 1959) / Opportunist
Steppe-Shrubland / Dolichoderinae / Dorymyrmex minutus / 0 / 56
P = 0.739 / 75
P = 0.02 / 59 (St)
Steppe-Shrubland / Dolichoderinae / Dorymyrmex sp. nova / 0 / 11
P =0.05 / 29
P = 0.048
Steppe-Shrubland / Myrmicinae / Pogonomyrmex carbonarius / 0 / 22
P = 0.118 / 38
P = 0.226 / 31 (St) / In soil
(Kusnezov 1959) / Seed harvester
(Kusnesov 1959) / Hot climate specialist
Steppe-Shrubland / Myrmicinae / Pogonomyrmex vermiculatus / 0 / 11
P = 0.05 / 8
P = 0.001
Steppe-Shrubland / Myrmicinae / Solenopsis sp. 1 / 0 / 22
P = 0.118 / 21
P = 0.008 / in ground litter
(Brown 2000) / Generalized foragers
(Brown 2000) / Hot climate specialist
Steppe / Dolichoderinae / Dorymyrmex breviscapis / 0 / 0 / 4
P < 0.0001 / In soil
open sites under stones
(Kusnezov 1959) / Generalized forager/Predator (Brown 2000, Kusnezov 1959) / Opportunist
Steppe / Dolichoderinae / Dorymyrmex bruchi ebeninus / 0 / 0 / 4
P < 0.0001
Steppe / Dolichoderinae / Dorymyrmex flavescens / 0 / 0 / 13
P = 0.0003
Steppe / Formicinae / Myrmelachista chilensis / 0 / 0 / 4
P < 0.0001 / Mostly plant cavities
(Brown 2000) / Cryptic species
(Brown 2000) / Cryptic species
(sensu Brown 2000)
Steppe / Myrmicinae / Pheidole spininodis / 0 / 0 / 25
P = 0.023 / In soil
(Pirk pers. comm.) / Seed harvester
(Pirk et al. 2009, Kusnezov 1952) / Generalized
Myrmicinae
Steppe / Myrmicinae / Pheidole sp. / 0 / 0 / 8
P < 0.0001 / most species in soil
some in rotten wood
(Brown 2000) / Seed harvester/omivouros? (Brown 2000)
Steppe / Myrmicinae / Pogonomyrmex rastratus / 0 / 0 / 13
P = 0.0003 / In soil
(Brown 2000) / Seed harvester
(Pirk and Casenave 2006) / Hot climate
specialist
Steppe / Myrmicinae / Solenopsis (Diplorhopthrum) sp. 2 / 0 / 0 / 4
P < 0.0001 / Litter? / Cryptic species
(Kusnezov 1959) / Cryptic species
Forest- Steppe / Myrmicinae / Solenopsis richteri / 6
P = 0.007 / 0 / 21
P = 0.008 / Open sites / Generalized forager
(Kemp et al. 2000) / Hot climate specialist

The statistical significance (P) of the proportional occupancy of species in each habitat was estimated for each species from a generalized linear model (GLM) without interactions and binomial distribution of errors run in R (R Development Core Team 2008). The R script was glm= species ~ macrohabitat -1, family= binomial(link = "logit")), where “species” correspond to the presence/absence of each species in each macrohabitat (forests, shrubland, steppes). For species inhabiting only one macrohabitat we conducted a two-tailed binomial test. The estimation of significance for species with 100% of proportional occupancy arbitrarily assumed that the species was absent from a single location to be able to fit a binomial distribution. The analyses were performed in R project (R Development Core Team 2008).

REFERENCES

R Development Core Team (2008) R: A language and environment for statistical computing. R Foundation for Statistical Computing, Vienna,

Austria. ISBN 3-900051-07-0, URL http://www.R-project.org.