Ongoing urbanization presents substantial threats to biodiversity and ecosystem functions, especially in regions with fragile ecosystems. Measuring these threats requires investigation of taxa that (i) continue to occur even in urbanized areas, and (ii) fulfill a substantial role in ecosystem function. In this study, we evaluated how variation relating to microhabitat factors (vegetation complexity, soil nutrients, and fragmentation) affected assemblages of 55,890 ground-foraging worker ants (81 species; seven functional groups) at 64 urban and suburban sites across eight counties over a broad elevational range of 510–3380 m (a.s.l.) in the eastern margin of the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau. We found that the representation of opportunist species (a functional group favoring open habitats) was affected by vegetation composition, habitat fragmentation, and soil mineral content, such that opportunists typically comprised the majority of ant species richness (≥40 % of ant species in 87.5 % plots). Species richness for these opportunists was greater with simpler ground cover (i.e., a lower percentage of herbaceous cover or lower percentage of bare soil). More complex ground cover, edaphic factors and less habitat fragmentation could therefore be used to promote a greater diversity of other functional groups with broader ecosystem function and service potential. Our study demonstrates that optimizing microhabitat management in urban green spaces could be used to mitigate the negative impacts of urbanization on native ant communities, and to safeguard key ecosystem functionality with a cascade effect to broader biodiversity.

中文翻译：

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机会主义蚂蚁物种在都市微生境中占主导地位：来自青藏高原东缘的证据

持续的城市化对生物多样性和生态系统功能构成重大威胁，特别是在生态系统脆弱的地区。衡量这些威胁需要对类群进行调查，这些类群（i）即使在城市化地区也继续存在，并且（ii）在生态系统功能中发挥着重要作用。在这项研究中，我们评估了与微生境因素（植被复杂性、土壤养分和破碎化）相关的变化如何影响 8 个县 64 个城市和郊区地点的 55,890 只地面觅食工蚁（81 个物种；七个功能类群）的群落。青藏高原东缘海拔510-3380米（ASL）的广阔海拔范围。我们发现，机会主义物种（有利于开放栖息地的功能群体）的代表性受到植被组成、栖息地破碎化和土壤矿物质含量的影响，因此机会主义物种通常占蚂蚁物种丰富度的大部分（87.5 中≥40％的蚂蚁物种）。 ％图）。这些机会主义者的物种丰富度更高，地面覆盖更简单（即草本覆盖率较低或裸土百分比较低）。因此，更复杂的地面覆盖、土壤因素和更少的栖息地破碎化可以用来促进具有更广泛的生态系统功能和服务潜力的其他功能组的更大多样性。我们的研究表明，优化城市绿地的微生境管理可用于减轻城市化对本土蚂蚁群落的负面影响，并保护关键的生态系统功能，并对更广泛的生物多样性产生级联效应。