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Interspecific competition and coexistence between ants and land
hermit crabs on small Bahamian islands
Morrison, LW
Acta Oecologica [Acta Oecol.]. Vol. 23, no. 4, pp. 223-229. Aug
2002.
Numerous studies have demonstrated the existence of intra- and
interspecific competition among ants, but few have investigated
direct competitive interactions between ants and other taxa. In
this paper, I present the first evidence of direct competitive
interactions between ants and crabs. Evidence of competition for
food between ants and the land hermit crab, Coenobita clypeatus
(Herbst), was derived from observations and experiments in an
archipelago of small islands in the central Exumas, Bahamas.
Correlational evidence of competition for food based on
occurrences at baits was found between ants and hermit crabs in
multiple years. Observations at baits over time revealed species
turnover occurred due to aggressive interactions. C. clypeatus
discovered food items rapidly, but lost control of food over time,
particularly to the ant Brachymyrmex obscurior Forel, which took
longer to find food items but recruited large numbers of workers
that drove off hermit crabs. A second ant species, Dorymyrmex
pyramicus Roger, discovered baits quickly but did not recruit to
baits in large numbers, and was not a superior competitor to
either C. clypeatus or B. obscurior. Competition between ants and
land hermit crabs was not intense enough to cause complementary
distributions, and mechanisms of coexistence apparently include
temporal variation in foraging activity and complementary foraging
strategies when ants and crabs are active at the same time.
Because of the widespread distributions and generalist scavenger
diets of many ants and crabs, such competitive interactions are
likely to be a common facet of many tropical and subtropical
insular and coastal communities.
 Descriptors: Article Subject Terms Aggressive behaviour | Coastal zone | Competition | Food
availability | Interspecific relationships | Islands | Oceanic
islands | Tropical environment | Article Taxonomic Terms Brachymyrmex
obscurior | Coenobita clypeatus | Dorymyrmex pyramicus | Formicidae | Article Geographic Terms ASW, Caribbean Sea, Bahamas, Exuma Cays | Bahamas
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