OPENAIRE OpenAire Bielefeld Academic Search Engine (BASE) Recolector de Ciencia Abierta, RECOLECTA Repositorio Institucional de la Universidad de Alicante Crossref Microsoft Academic Graph Basic and Applied Ecology Open Access 2020-07-24 Open AccessM.D-B. was supported by the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the Marie Sklodowska-Curie Grant Agreement No 702057 (CLIMIFUN) and by a Large Research Grant from the British Ecological Society (Grant Agreement No. LRA17 1193, MUSGONET). Open AccessM.D-B. was supported by the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the Marie Sklodowska-Curie Grant Agreement No 702057 (CLIMIFUN) and by a Large Research Grant from the British Ecological Society (Grant Agreement No. LRA17 1193, MUSGONET). Ants are one of the most abundant and ubiquitous organisms on Earth and play critical roles in multiple ecosystem services such as seed dispersal and nutrient cycling. Despite this, the effects of climatic and land use stressors on particular species or groups of ants are poorly known. We conducted a regional field survey across 108 locations in south-eastern Australia, using correlation network analysis and structural equation modelling to identify how ants respond to environmental stressors. We found contrasting relationships amongst ants, and aridity, and vertebrate grazing intensity and history. Increasing aridity was associated with reduced ant richness, whereas increasing grazing intensity was associated with greater ant richness directly, and indirectly, via reductions in litter depth and perennial grass density. However, these taxonomically diverse groups of ant species still shared contrasting responses to increasing aridity and grazing intensity. We found strong associations between grazing, aridity and the abundance of Seed Harvesters, weak indirect relationships with Generalist Foragers, but no relationships for Predators or Sugar Feeders. Taken together, our work identifies contrasting relationships amongst grazing, aridity and ants (ant ‘winners’ or ‘losers’) across contrasting ecological contexts. Given that increasing aridity is generally associated with lower grazing intensity, our results suggest that locations with more arid sites will have lower ant richness with fewer Seed Harvesters, whereas more mesic sites with high grazing intensity might increase ant richness, and the abundance of specific ant species. Such knowledge is important if we are to maintain critical ant-mediated functions as Earth becomes drier and grazing intensity increases. Richness 0106 biological sciences 2. Zero hunger Grazing Ants XXXXXX - Unknown Drylands Functional diversity Ecología 15. Life on land 01 natural sciences 0105 earth and related environmental sciences Eldridge, David J., Oliver, Ian, Val, James, Travers, Samantha K., Delgado Baquerizo, Manuel (R17761), 2020-11-01 journalpaper Open AccessM.D-B. was supported by the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the Marie Sklodowska-Curie Grant Agreement No 702057 (CLIMIFUN) and by a Large Research Grant from the British Ecological Society (Grant Agreement No. LRA17 1193, MUSGONET). Open AccessM.D-B. was supported by the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the Marie Sklodowska-Curie Grant Agreement No 702057 (CLIMIFUN) and by a Large Research Grant from the British Ecological Society (Grant Agreement No. LRA17 1193, MUSGONET). Ants are one of the most abundant and ubiquitous organisms on Earth and play critical roles in multiple ecosystem services such as seed dispersal and nutrient cycling. Despite this, the effects of climatic and land use stressors on particular species or groups of ants are poorly known. We conducted a regional field survey across 108 locations in south-eastern Australia, using correlation network analysis and structural equation modelling to identify how ants respond to environmental stressors. We found contrasting relationships amongst ants, and aridity, and vertebrate grazing intensity and history. Increasing aridity was associated with reduced ant richness, whereas increasing grazing intensity was associated with greater ant richness directly, and indirectly, via reductions in litter depth and perennial grass density. However, these taxonomically diverse groups of ant species still shared contrasting responses to increasing aridity and grazing intensity. We found strong associations between grazing, aridity and the abundance of Seed Harvesters, weak indirect relationships with Generalist Foragers, but no relationships for Predators or Sugar Feeders. Taken together, our work identifies contrasting relationships amongst grazing, aridity and ants (ant ‘winners’ or ‘losers’) across contrasting ecological contexts. Given that increasing aridity is generally associated with lower grazing intensity, our results suggest that locations with more arid sites will have lower ant richness with fewer Seed Harvesters, whereas more mesic sites with high grazing intensity might increase ant richness, and the abundance of specific ant species. Such knowledge is important if we are to maintain critical ant-mediated functions as Earth becomes drier and grazing intensity increases. Grazing and aridity have contrasting effects on the functional and taxonomic diversity of ants 10.1016/j.baae.2020.07.003 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.baae.2020.07.003 702057