Fig 1.
Mean rainfall (triangles) and temperature (diamonds—mean maximum monthly temperature, circles—mean minimum monthly temperature), for high elevation (white) sites (Katoomba; ca. 10km from sites; elevation 1000m; 1907 to 2010) and low elevation (grey) sites (Penrith Lakes; ca. 10km from sites; elevation 25m; 1995 to 2010) from the Australian Bureau of Meteorology.
Table 1.
Results of the two binomial linear regressions for the observation experiment on the proportion of seeds found or moved by ants, across low and high elevations in the Greater Blue Mountains World Heritage Area, including coefficients (±SE), z-value and probability.
Temperature is the temperature at time of observation. Significant P-values are in bold.
Fig 2.
The total number of seeds removed during the observation experiment at low (grey) and high elevation (white) sites by the top three seed-removing ant genera: Rhytidoponera, Aphaenogaster and Pheidole.
Fig 3.
MDS plots of ant communities at low elevation c. 200 m a.s.l. (grey; n = 8) and high elevation sites c. 700 m a.s.l. (white; n = 8) in the Greater Blue Mountains World Heritage Area; a) includes all ant genera, b) includes only the seed-dispersing ant genera.
Table 2.
Mean abundances (± standard error) of ant genera collected from pitfall traps at low and high elevations sites in the Greater Blue Mountains World Heritage Area.
Superscript numbers 1, 2, 3 indicate the top three genera that differ between low and high elevation communities. The genera that contain seed-removalists (MYR) are indicated (Y = yes). Superscript letters indicate: a genera that moved seeds, and b genera known as seed predators [31]. The functional group [43] abbreviations are: dominant Dolichoderinae (DD); opportunists (O); subordinate Camponotini (SC); hot & cold climate specialists (HCS & CCS); cryptic species (CS); specialist predators (SP); generalized Myrmicinae (GM).
Fig 4.
Total mean percentage (± SE) of seeds removed at day five of the exclusion experiment from low elevation sites (grey) and high elevation sites (white).
The four exclusion treatments were closed to both invertebrates and vertebrates (None); open to both vertebrates and invertebrates (vertebrates & invertebrates); vertebrates allowed access and invertebrates excluded (vertebrates only); invertebrates allowed access and vertebrates excluded (Invertebrates only).
Table 3.
Results of the binomial linear regression for the exclusion experiment on seed removal rates, across low and high elevations in the Greater Blue Mountains World Heritage Area, including coefficients (±SE), z-value and probability.
The four exclusion treatments for seed depots were: no exclusion (open to both vertebrates and invertebrates); vertebrate access only; invertebrates access only; and closed to both invertebrates and vertebrates. Significant P-values are in bold.