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Social structure and landscape genetics of the endemic New Caledonian ant Leptomyrmex pallens Emery, 1883 (Hymenoptera: Formicidae: Dolichoderinae), in the context of fire-induced rainforest fragmentation

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Abstract

Habitat fragmentation is a major threat to biodiversity, as it can alter ecological processes at various spatial and trophic scales. At the species level, fragmentation leading to the isolation of populations can trigger reductions in genetic diversity, potentially having detrimental effects on population fitness, adaptability and ultimately population persistence. Leptomyrmex pallens is a widespread rainforest ant endemic to New Caledonia but now confined to habitat patches that have been fragmented by anthropogenic fire regimes over the last 200 years. We investigated the social structure of L. pallens in the Aoupinié region (c.a. 4900 ha), and assessed the impacts of habitat fragmentation on its population genetic structure. Allele frequencies at 13 polymorphic microsatellite loci were compared among 411 worker ants from 21 nests distributed across the region. High within-nest relatedness (r = 0.70 ± 0.02), and a single queen found in 38 % of the nests by pedigree analysis indicate that the species is monogynous to weakly polygynous. Estimates of gene flow and genetic structure across the region were subsequently determined using a combined dataset of single workers per nest and of unrelated foraging workers. These estimates coupled with a comprehensive landscape genetic analysis revealed no evidence of significant population structure or habitat effects, suggesting that the Aoupinié region harbours a single panmictic population. In contrast, analyses of mitochondrial DNA sequence data revealed a high degree of genetic structuring, indicating limited maternal gene flow and suggesting that gene flow among nests is driven primarily by winged males. Overall these findings suggest that fire-induced habitat fragmentation has had little impact on the population dynamics of L. pallens. Additional studies of less mobile species should therefore be conducted to gain further insights into fire related disturbances on the unique biodiversity and function of New Caledonian ecosystems.

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Acknowledgments

This work has been partly funded by a competitive funding grant from Charles Darwin University to MB as part of her Ph.D. thesis, and by the Agence Nationale de la Recherche BDIV-07-008, project ‘Incendies Nouvelle Calédonie’. We gratefully acknowledge Julien Le Breton for his contribution with L. pallens samples from distant locations and Claudie Doums for her comments on an early version of the manuscript. We thank the New Caledonian Gohapin tribe who has allowed us to access and sample on their land, Ary Hoffmann for his guidance on experimental design and data analysis, and Jasmin Packer, Quentin Auriac, Barbara Pianu and Viviane Degret for their help in the field.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. CSIRO Ecosystem Sciences, PMB 44, Winnellie, Northern Territory, 0822, Australia

    Maïa Berman

  2. Research Institute for the Environment and Livelihoods, Charles Darwin University, Northern Territory, Australia

    Maïa Berman & Christopher M. Austin

  3. Université de Montpellier II, UMR AMAP, Montpellier, France

    Maïa Berman

  4. Monash University Sunway Campus, Jalan Lagoon Selatan, Bandar Sunway, 46150, Petaling Jaya, Selangor, Malaysia

    Christopher M. Austin

  5. School of Biological Sciences, University of Tasmania, Hobart, TAS, 7001, Australia

    Christopher P. Burridge

  6. School of Life and Environmental Sciences, Centre for Integrative Ecology, Deakin University, Warrnambool, VIC, 3280, Australia

    Adam D. Miller

  7. School of BioSciences, The University of Melbourne, Parkville, VIC, 3010, Australia

    Adam D. Miller

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Berman, M., Austin, C.M., Burridge, C.P. et al. Social structure and landscape genetics of the endemic New Caledonian ant Leptomyrmex pallens Emery, 1883 (Hymenoptera: Formicidae: Dolichoderinae), in the context of fire-induced rainforest fragmentation. Conserv Genet 17, 931–947 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10592-016-0833-6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10592-016-0833-6

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