Faunal Responses to Habitat Disturbance: Do the Principles Explaining Responses of Ant Communities Also Apply to Terrestrial Reptiles?

Abstract

Disturbance is fundamental to the state and dynamics of biological communities, and understanding biotic responses to disturbance is critical to effective biodiversity conservation. However, a predictive understanding of how faunal communities respond to habitat disturbance remains elusive. Recently, a conceptual framework centred on habitat openness was developed for understanding ant responses to disturbance. It proposes that habitat openness is a fundamental driver of variation among ant communities, and that the primary impacts of disturbance are mediated through ant functional responses to changes in openness. Like ants, terrestrial reptiles are ectotherms and are therefore especially sensitive to disturbance-induced increases in habitat openness because of changes in the thermal environment. Therefore, reptiles might also be expected to conform to a disturbance framework based on habitat openness. Here we assess the extent to which this occurs by combining a quantitative analysis of recent publications with a broader synthesis of the literature. We found strong support for the framework applying to terrestrial reptiles. We suggest that the framework can be strengthened by a mechanistic understanding of functional traits in relation to habitat openness. For ectotherms, ecophysiological traits could be particularly important for responding to disturbance-mediated changes in microclimate, but habitat openness also influences other important factors such as food availability and predation. Finally, the framework appears to be highly applicable to a wider range of faunal groups beyond ants and reptiles.