2026-10-13T09:07:57Z https://api.figshare.com/v2/oai

oai:figshare.com:article/30868655 2026-09-15T06:34:04Z category_24238 item_type_3 month_year_09_2026

<b>Ant-plant mutualisms contribute to island species deficit at the global scale</b> Gang Zhou (22831823) Xiujuan Qiao (563141) Mingxi Jiang (426393) Ecology not elsewhere classified Latitudinal diversity gradient (LDG) <p dir="ltr">Vascular plants on oceanic islands exhibit a weakened latitudinal diversity gradient (LDG), with certain mutualisms (e.g., plant-pollinator interactions) influencing oceanic island species deficit. However, the role of ant-plant mutualism in shaping this species deficit remains poorly understood. Here we used the Global Inventory of Floras and Traits (GIFT) database and the Global Ant Biodiversity Informatics-Island (GABI-I) database to explore the potential mechanisms underlying the effects of ant-plant mutualism on biodiversity of oceanic islands. Our results showed that the strength of ant–plant mutualism on the mainland had a significant positive effect on the oceanic island–mainland plant diversity difference at a given latitude (i.e., the oceanic island species deficit). Although non-myrmecophytic plants contribute more to the absolute species deficit (due to their larger mainland species pool), the mean proportional species deficit is significantly higher for myrmecophytic plants than for non-myrmecophytic plants. Critically, the myrmecophytic species deficit significantly decreased with ant diversity on islands, indicating that lower ant diversity may constrain the colonization of myrmecophytic plants. Our findings provide evidence that mutualism availability can reshape the relationship between biodiversity and island biogeographic drivers, highlighting the importance of biotic interactions in shaping global plant diversity patterns.</p> 2025-12-12T08:57:45Z Dataset Dataset 10.6084/m9.figshare.30868655.v3 https://figshare.com/articles/dataset/Ant-plant_mutualism_contribute_to_island_species_deficit_at_the_global_scale/30868655 CC BY 4.0