Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD Public Library of Science
Résumé : International audience
Little is known of how linkage patterns between species change along environmental gradients. The small, spatially discrete food webs inhabiting tank-bromeliads provide an excellent opportunity to analyse patterns of community diversity and food-web topology (connectance, linkage density, nestedness) in relation to key environmental variables (habitat size, detrital resource, incident radiation) and predators: prey ratios. We sampled 365 bromeliads in a wide range of understorey environments in French Guiana and used gut contents of invertebrates to draw the corresponding 365 connectance webs. At the bromeliad scale, habitat size (water volume) determined the number of species that constitute food-web nodes, the proportion of predators, and food-web topology. The number of species as well as the proportion of predators within bromeliads declined from open to forested habitats, where the volume of water collected by bromeliads was generally lower because of rainfall interception by the canopy. A core group of microorganisms and generalist detritivores remained relatively constant across environments. This suggests that (i) a highly-connected core ensures food-web stability and key ecosystem functions across environments, and (ii) larger deviations in food-web structures can be expected following disturbance if detritivores share traits that determine responses to environmental changes. While linkage density and nestedness were lower in bromeliads in the forest than in open areas, experiments are needed to confirm a trend for lower food-web stability in the understorey of primary forests.
PLoS ONE

hal-00913931
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00913931
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00913931/document
DOI : 10.1371/journal.pone.0071735
OATAO : 10204

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD Wiley
Résumé : Tank bromeliads form a conspicuous, yet neglected freshwater habitat in Neotropical forests. Recent studies driven by interests in medical entomology, fundamental aspects of bromeliad ecology and experimental research on food webs have, however, prompted increasing interest in bromeliad aquatic ecosystems. As yet, there is nothing in the literature about the life histories and environmental drivers of invertebrate population dynamics in tank bromeliads. Based on fortnightly samples taken over oneyear, size frequency plots and individual dry masses allowed us to establish the life cycles and growth rates of the dominant aquatic invertebrates in a common bromeliad species of French Guiana. Linear mixed-effect models and Mantel tests were used to predict changes in density, biomass, and growth rates in relation to temperature, rainfall, humidity and detrital resources. Annual variations in invertebrate densities and biomasses could be described according to three types of distribution: unimodal, bimodal or almost constant. Despite seasonal variations, precipitation, temperature, relative humidity and detritus concentration accounted significantly for changes in density and biomass, but we found no significant responses in growth rates of most invertebrate species. Species rather displayed non-seasonal life cycles with overlapping cohorts throughout the year. There was also a trend for delayed abundance peaks among congeneric species sharing similar functional traits, suggesting temporal partitioning of available resources. Beyond novel knowledge, quantitative information on life histories is important to predict food-web dynamics under the influence of external forcing and self-organisation. Our results suggest that changes in species distribution that will affect population dynamics through biotic interactions in space and/or time could have greater effects on food webs and ecosystem functioning than changes in environmental factors per se.
ISSN: 0046-5070

hal-01607779
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01607779
DOI : 10.1111/fwb.12862
PRODINRA : 407311

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD Oxford University Press (OUP)
Résumé : International audience
Background and AimsEpiphytism imposes physiological constraints resulting from the lack of access to the nutrient sources available to ground-rooted plants. A conspicuous adaptation in response to that lack is the phytotelm (plant-held waters) of tank-bromeliad species that are often nutrient-rich. Associations with terrestrial invertebrates also result in higher plant nutrient acquisition. Assuming that tank-bromeliads rely on reservoir-assisted nutrition, it was hypothesized that the dual association with mutualistic ants and the phytotelm food web provides greater nutritional benefits to the plant compared with those bromeliads involved in only one of these two associations.MethodsQuantitative (water volume, amount of fine particulate organic matter, predator/prey ratio, algal density) and qualitative variables (ant-association and photosynthetic pathways) were compared for eight tank- and one tankless-bromeliad morphospecies from French Guiana. An analysis was also made of which of these variables affect nitrogen acquisition (leaf N and δ(15)N).Key ResultsAll variables were significantly different between tank-bromeliad species. Leaf N concentrations and leaf δ(15)N were both positively correlated with the presence of mutualistic ants. The amount of fine particulate organic matter and predator/prey ratio had a positive and negative effect on leaf δ(15)N, respectively. Water volume was positively correlated with leaf N concentration whereas algal density was negatively correlated. Finally, the photosynthetic pathway (C3 vs. CAM) was positively correlated with leaf N concentration with a slightly higher N concentration for C3-Tillandsioideae compared with CAM-Bromelioideae.ConclusionsThe study suggests that some of the differences in N nutrition between bromeliad species can be explained by the presence of mutualistic ants. From a nutritional standpoint, it is more advantageous for a bromeliad to use myrmecotrophy via its roots than to use carnivory via its tank. The results highlight a gap in our knowledge of the reciprocal interactions between bromeliads and the various trophic levels (from bacteria to large metazoan predators) that intervene in reservoir-assisted nutrition.
ISSN: 0305-7364

hal-00849045
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00849045
DOI : 10.1093/aob/mct147
PUBMED : 23864002

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD Kluwer Academic Publishers
Résumé : International audience
The interlocking leaves of tank-forming bromeliads (Bromeliaceae) collect rainwater and detritus, thus creating a freshwater habitat for specialized organisms. Their abundance and the possibility of quantifying communities with accuracy give us unparalleled insight into how changes in local to regional environments influence community diversity in small water bodies. We sampled 365 bromeliads (365 invertebrate communities) along a southeastern to northwestern range in French Guiana. Geographic locality determined the species pool for bromeliad invertebrates, and local environments determined the abundance patterns through the selection of traits that are best adapted to the bromeliad habitats. Patterns in community structure mostly emerged from patterns of predator species occurrence and abundance across local-regional environments, while the set of detritivores remained constant. Water volume had a strong positive correlation with invertebrate diversity, making it a biologically relevant measure of the pools' carrying capacity. The significant effects of incoming detritus and incident light show that changes in local environments (e.g., the conversion of forest to cropping systems) strongly influence freshwater communities. Because changes in local environments do not affect detritivores and predators equally, one may expect functional shifts as sets of invertebrates with particular traits are replaced or complemented by other sets with different traits.
Hydrobiologia

hal-00845572
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00845572

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD
Résumé : Neotropical forests shelter an astonishing and underrated biodiversity. The integrity and stability of these natural ecosystems are threatened by human-induced environmental changes. Therefore, highlighting the determinants of ecosystem functioning, be they natural or anthropogenic, is a daunting but paramount scientific challenge. The intrinsic complexity of highly diversified ecosystems arouses both conceptual and logistical difficulties, which we handle, by manipulating tiny ecosystems, the tank bromeliads. The leaves of tank bromeliads form wells that hold rainwater and intercept leaf litter, allowing for a simple invertebrate aquatic community to thrive. These plants can be exhaustively sampled, are naturally replicated, and widely distributed.From local to biogeographic scales, this thesis aims at understanding how these communities respond to the natural heterogeneity of Amazonian forests, and at predicting the impacts of human-induced disturbances on the structure and functioning of these communities, using in situ and lab experiments. Particular focus is attributed to the influence of some aspects of climate changes (e.g., warming, and various precipitations scenarios) on individual physiology, behavior, and trophic interactions.
Les forêts néotropicales accueillent une importante biodiversité encore méconnue. L’intégrité des écosystèmes naturels est menacée par les changements environnementaux (e.g., réchauffement climatique, destruction des habitats), par conséquent, identifier les facteurs structurants, naturels et anthropiques, du fonctionnement des écosystèmes, représente un défi scientifique crucial. L’inhérente complexité de ces milieux diversifiés pose de nombreux problèmes conceptuels et logistiques comme un échantillonnage exhaustif et/ou l’identification des espèces. Les broméliacées à réservoirs sont des écosystèmes miniatures adéquats pour pallier ces difficultés, car elles retiennent de l’eau de pluie et accumulent de la matière organique au creux de leurs feuilles, permettant ainsi de supporter des réseaux trophiques simples d’invertébrés aquatiques. Elles peuvent être échantillonnées exhaustivement, ont une forte abondance locale, et une large aire de répartition. De l’échelle locale à biogéographique, les travaux de cette thèse visent d’abord à comprendre comment ces communautés se structurent en réponse à l’hétérogénéité naturelle des forêts amazoniennes (e.g., ouverture de la canopée, fluctuations climatiques saisonnières), puis tente de prédire, par le biais d’expérimentations in situ et au laboratoire les réponses structurelles et fonctionnelles de ces communautés à divers scénarios de changement climatique. Une attention particulière a été portée sur l’impact de la température et des précipitations sur la physiologie et le comportement d’espèces clefs, et sur les interactions trophiques au sein des communautés.
https://tel.archives-ouvertes.fr/tel-01405025

NNT : 2015YANE0003
tel-01405025
https://tel.archives-ouvertes.fr/tel-01405025
https://tel.archives-ouvertes.fr/tel-01405025/document
https://tel.archives-ouvertes.fr/tel-01405025/file/These-DEZERALD-Diffusion.pdf