www.antbase.net

Mr. Tom Fayle

01 June 1981, Oslo - Norway

University of Cambridge

Insect Ecology Group
Department of Zoology
University of Cambridge
Cambridge CB2 3EJ

United Kingdom

+44 1223 331768

+44 1223 336676

www.tomfayle.com

Ant Ecology, Community Ecology, Habitat Change, Bird's nest ferns, Epiphytes

Malaysia

Why are there so many species? How do they all coexist? These are the broad questions I seek to answer during the course of my PhD.
In order to investigate this I am using the Bird's Nest Fern (Asplenium nidus complex) as a microcosm. By understanding the dynamics of the ant community of the fern, I hope to shed light on universal ecological processes. Bird's Nest Ferns are distributed from east Africa across Asia and down into Australia. In tropical rain forest they grow at all heights in the canopy, up to 60m in areas where the canopy goes that high. They are "litter basket" epiphytes, intercepting leaf litter as it falls and deriving their nutrients from the leaves as they decompose. The fern retains the decomposing leaf litter in its mossy core, which also acts as a sponge for intercepted water. This core can reach gargantuan proportions in the high canopy ferns, with individuals weighing up to 200kg. As a result the ferns provide an ideal habitat for a variety of arthropods and other animals. Of these animals the most abundant and ecologically important are the ants. Within any fern of a reasonable size colonies of several different species of ant can coexist. This makes the ferns ideal for use as microcosms for the study of ant community ecology.
So far I have surveyed the distributions of the ferns themselves and assessed the ant communities present within a subset of these. I am now in the process of carrying out experimental invasions of the ferns by a focal species of Diacamma in order to experimentally verify the mechanisms behind the patterns observed.

Fayle TM, Foster WA, Green RE (in review) The potential of abandoned farmland as a habitat for biodiversity conservation in the UK.

Fayle TM (in press) Book review of Ants of North America: A Guide to the Genera by Brian Fisher & Stefan Cover. Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society.

Disney RHL, Fayle TM (in press) A New Species of Scuttle Fly (Diptera: Phoridae) Parasitizing an Ant (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) in Borneo. Sociobiology.

Fayle TM, Ellwood MDF, Turner EC, Snaddon JL, Yusah KM, Foster WA (in press) Bird's nest ferns: islands of biodiversity in the rainforest canopy. Antenna.

Turner EC, Snaddon JL, Fayle TM, Foster W (2008) Oil Palm Research in Context: Identifying the Need for Biodiversity Assessment. PLoS ONE 3:e1572

Fayle TM, Sharp RE, Majerus MEN (2007) The effect of moth trap type on catch size and composition in British Lepidoptera. British Journal of Entomology and Natural History 20:221-232

Field J, Turner EC, Fayle TM, Foster WA (2007) Costs of egg-laying and offspring provisioning: multifaceted parental investment in a digger wasp. Proceedings of the Royal Society B 274: 445-451

Aldridge DC, Fayle TM, Jackson N (2007) Freshwater mussel abundance predicts biodiversity in UK lowland rivers. Aquatic Conservation: Marine and Freshwater Ecosystems 17:554-564

Fayle TM, Foster WA, Eggleton P (2007) Ant community assembly in a common rain forest epiphyte. Invited one-off talk presented at University of Plymouth, UK.

Fayle TM, Foster WA, Eggleton P (2007) Ant community assembly in a common rain forest epiphyte. Talk presented at British Ecological Society annual meeting, University of Glasgow, UK.

Fayle TM, Foster WA, Eggleton P, Chung A (2007) The ant fauna of a common rain forest epiphyte. Talk presented at Forest Canopy Research and Sustainable Use of Forest Canopy Biodiversity, Malaysian National Workshop, Universiti Malaysia Sabah, Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, Malaysia.

Fayle TM, Foster WA, Eggleton P (2006) The ant fauna of a common rain forest epiphyte in Sabah, Malaysia. Talk presented at Ento '06 (Royal Entomological Society annual meeting), University of Bath, UK.

Fayle TM, Foster WA, Eggleton P, Chung A (2006) Islands in the sky: epiphytic bird's nest ferns (Asplenium nidus complex) as microcosms for the study of ant community ecology. Poster presented at Internation Union for the Study of Social Insects 2006 congress, Washington D.C., USA.

Fayle TM, Foster WA, Green RE (2005) Biodiversity on abandoned farmland: the best of both worlds? Poster presented at the Student Conference for Conservation Science, University of Cambridge, UK.

Helped to run a stall at the Royal Society's 2007 Summer Exhibition, London, UK.

I am fascinated by all aspects of ants: their ecology, their behaviour, their taxonomy.

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