Journal articles: 'Plant ant'

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Herbers, Joan M. "Ant-Plant Interactions." American Entomologist 39, no. 1 (1993): 47–48. http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/ae/39.1.47a.

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Lock, J. M., Camilla R. Huxley, and David F. Cutler. "Ant-Plant Interactions." Kew Bulletin 50, no. 1 (1995): 182. http://dx.doi.org/10.2307/4114630.

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Keeler, Kathleen H. "Ant-Plant Interactions." Ecology 68, no. 1 (February 1987): 235–36. http://dx.doi.org/10.2307/1938832.

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Mori, Scott A., Camilla R. Huxley, and David F. Cutler. "Ant-Plant Interactions." Brittonia 44, no. 3 (July 1992): 385. http://dx.doi.org/10.2307/2806946.

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Kodet, R. T. "Ant-Plant Ecology." Bulletin of the Entomological Society of America 33, no. 4 (December 1, 1987): 261. http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/besa/33.4.261.

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Volp, Trevor M., and Lori Lach. "An Epiphytic Ant-Plant Mutualism Structures Arboreal Ant Communities." Environmental Entomology 48, no. 5 (July 15, 2019): 1056–62. http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/ee/nvz083.

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Abstract Arboreal ant communities are primarily structured by interactions among ant species, food availability, and physical structures within the environment. Epiphytes are a common feature of tropical forests that can provide ants with both food and nesting space. To date, little work has examined what role epiphytic ant-plants play in structuring arboreal ant communities. We surveyed ant species inhabiting the Australian epiphytic ant-plant Myrmecodia beccarii Hook.f. (Gentianales: Rubiaceae) and how arboreal ant communities are structured in relation to M. beccarii presence on trees. Myrmecodia beccarii was inhabited by the ant Philidris cordata Smith, F. (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) on the majority of Melaleuca viridiflora Sol. Ex Gaertn. (Myrtales: Myrtaceae) trees with ant-occupied ant-plants at our two sites. Dominant arboreal ant species at both study sites exhibited discrete, nonoverlapping distributions, and C-score analysis detected an ant mosaic at one site. The distribution of P. cordata was limited by the distribution of ant-plants for both sites. Philidris cordata dominance on trees was also determined by the presence of M. beccarii occupied by P. cordata at both sites. We suggest that by providing P. cordata with nesting space M. beccarii plays a role in structuring these arboreal ant communities.

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Nelsen, Matthew P., Richard H. Ree, and Corrie S. Moreau. "Ant–plant interactions evolved through increasing interdependence." Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 115, no. 48 (November 12, 2018): 12253–58. http://dx.doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1719794115.

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Ant–plant interactions are diverse and abundant and include classic models in the study of mutualism and other biotic interactions. By estimating a time-scaled phylogeny of more than 1,700 ant species and a time-scaled phylogeny of more than 10,000 plant genera, we infer when and how interactions between ants and plants evolved and assess their macroevolutionary consequences. We estimate that ant–plant interactions originated in the Mesozoic, when predatory, ground-inhabiting ants first began foraging arboreally. This served as an evolutionary precursor to the use of plant-derived food sources, a dietary transition that likely preceded the evolution of extrafloral nectaries and elaiosomes. Transitions to a strict, plant-derived diet occurred in the Cenozoic, and optimal models of shifts between strict predation and herbivory include omnivory as an intermediate step. Arboreal nesting largely evolved from arboreally foraging lineages relying on a partially or entirely plant-based diet, and was initiated in the Mesozoic, preceding the evolution of domatia. Previous work has suggested enhanced diversification in plants with specialized ant-associated traits, but it appears that for ants, living and feeding on plants does not affect ant diversification. Together, the evidence suggests that ants and plants increasingly relied on one another and incrementally evolved more intricate associations with different macroevolutionary consequences as angiosperms increased their ecological dominance.

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OÑA, L., and M. LACHMANN. "Ant aggression and evolutionary stability in plant-ant and plant-pollinator mutualistic interactions." Journal of Evolutionary Biology 24, no. 3 (December 22, 2010): 617–29. http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1420-9101.2010.02200.x.

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Pringle, Elizabeth G. "Harnessing ant defence at fruits reduces bruchid seed predation in a symbiotic ant–plant mutualism." Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences 281, no. 1785 (June 22, 2014): 20140474. http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2014.0474.

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In horizontally transmitted mutualisms, mutualists disperse separately and reassemble in each generation with partners genetically unrelated to those in the previous generation. Because of this, there should be no selection on either partner to enhance the other's reproductive output directly. In symbiotic ant–plant mutualisms, myrmecophytic plants host defensive ant colonies, and ants defend the plants from herbivores. Plants and ants disperse separately, and, although ant defence can indirectly increase plant reproduction by reducing folivory, it is unclear whether ants can also directly increase plant reproduction by defending seeds. The neotropical tree Cordia alliodora hosts colonies of Azteca pittieri ants. The trees produce domatia where ants nest at stem nodes and also at the node between the peduncle and the rachides of the infloresence. Unlike the stem domatia, these reproductive domatia senesce after the tree fruits each year. In this study, I show that the tree's resident ant colony moves into these ephemeral reproductive domatia, where they tend honeydew-producing scale insects and patrol the nearby developing fruits. The presence of ants significantly reduced pre-dispersal seed predation by Amblycerus bruchid beetles, thereby directly increasing plant reproductive output.

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Vesprini, José L., Leonardo Galetto, and Gabriel Bernardello. "The beneficial effect of ants on the reproductive success of Dyckia floribunda (Bromeliaceae), an extrafloral nectary plant." Canadian Journal of Botany 81, no. 1 (January 1, 2003): 24–27. http://dx.doi.org/10.1139/b03-003.

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Dyckia floribunda is a perennial herb from the Argentinian Chaco with extrafloral nectaries. Ants visited these nectaries while patrolling inflorescences and infructescences. We anticipated that ants attracted to extrafloral nectaries might protect the reproductive organs, increasing plant reproductive output. To evaluate the possibility of mutualism between D. floribunda and ant visitors, we determined whether ant-accessible plants showed a higher seed production than ant-excluded plants. Experimental fieldwork suggested a decrease in fruit set of ant-excluded plants compared with ant-accessible plants but the seed number per fruit was not affected by ant exclusion. Thus, total seed number per plant was highly reduced in treated spikes. Analyses of covariance confirmed these trends, indicating that total seed production per plant was strongly affected by ant exclusion. This study marks the first experimental report of this mutualistic association in Bromeliaceae.Key words: antplant interaction, Bromeliaceae, Chaco, Dyckia floribunda, fruit set, seed set, mutualism.

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Plowman, Nichola S., Amelia S. C. Hood, Jimmy Moses, Conor Redmond, Vojtech Novotny, Petr Klimes, and Tom M. Fayle. "Network reorganization and breakdown of an ant–plant protection mutualism with elevation." Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences 284, no. 1850 (March 15, 2017): 20162564. http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2016.2564.

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Both the abiotic environment and the composition of animal and plant communities change with elevation. For mutualistic species, these changes are expected to result in altered partner availability, and shifts in context-dependent benefits for partners. To test these predictions, we assessed the network structure of terrestrial ant-plant mutualists and how the benefits to plants of ant inhabitation changed with elevation in tropical forest in Papua New Guinea. At higher elevations, ant-plants were rarer, species richness of both ants and plants decreased, and the average ant or plant species interacted with fewer partners. However, networks became increasingly connected and less specialized, more than could be accounted for by reductions in ant-plant abundance. On the most common ant-plant, ants recruited less and spent less time attacking a surrogate herbivore at higher elevations, and herbivory damage increased. These changes were driven by turnover of ant species rather than by within-species shifts in protective behaviour. We speculate that reduced partner availability at higher elevations results in less specialized networks, while lower temperatures mean that even for ant-inhabited plants, benefits are reduced. Under increased abiotic stress, mutualistic networks can break down, owing to a combination of lower population sizes, and a reduction in context-dependent mutualistic benefits.

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Vasconcelos, Heraldo L. "Ant colonization of Maieta guianensis seedlings, an Amazon ant-plant." Oecologia 95, no. 3 (September 1993): 439–43. http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/bf00321000.

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Ribas, Carla, Paulo Oliveira, Tathiana Sobrinho, José Schoereder, and Marcelo Madureira. "The arboreal ant community visiting extrafloral nectaries in the Neotropical cerrado savanna." Terrestrial Arthropod Reviews 3, no. 1 (2010): 3–27. http://dx.doi.org/10.1163/187498310x487785.

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AbstractThe cerrado savanna of Brazil embraces an area of approximately 2 million km2, in which vegetation physiognomies may vary from open grassland to forest with a discontinuous herbaceous layer. Here we describe the main ecological factors accounting for the prevalence of ants on cerrado foliage, and present a general characterization of the arboreal ant fauna of this savanna. The high incidence of ants on cerrado foliage results mostly from the wide occurrence of predictable liquid food sources in the form of extrafloral nectaries (EFNs) and insect honeydew, which act as efficient promoters of ant activity on vegetation. In addition, stem galleries and cavities constructed by boring beetles and insect galls create a nesting space frequently used by arboreal ants. Specific studies involving ants, herbivores and plants are reported to demonstrate the impact that foliage-dwelling ants can have on phytophagous insects, herbivory levels, and ultimately on host plants. These studies show that: (i) ants visit EFNs and likely benefit from this resource; (ii) EFN-gathering ants can benefit particular plant species by reducing herbivory and increasing plant fitness; (iii) presence of EFNs does not affect ant species richness within a given tree; (iv) there is not a particular ant species composition typical of plants with EFNs; (v) although plants with EFNs are visited by more ant individuals than non-nectariferous plants, this visitation pattern does not translate into lower numbers of herbivores on the nectariferous plant community. We suggest some promising research avenues to elucidate how community-level parameters can be tied to the ecology of ant-plant associations in cerrado.

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MENDES, GISELE M., and TATIANA G. CORNELISSEN. "Effects of plant quality and ant defence on herbivory rates in a neotropical ant-plant." Ecological Entomology 42, no. 5 (June 22, 2017): 668–74. http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/een.12432.

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Defossez, Emmanuel, Champlain Djiéto-Lordon, Doyle McKey, Marc-André Selosse, and Rumsaïs Blatrix. "Plant-ants feed their host plant, but above all a fungal symbiont to recycle nitrogen." Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences 278, no. 1710 (October 27, 2010): 1419–26. http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2010.1884.

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In ant–plant symbioses, plants provide symbiotic ants with food and specialized nesting cavities (called domatia). In many ant–plant symbioses, a fungal patch grows within each domatium. The symbiotic nature of the fungal association has been shown in the ant-plant Leonardoxa africana and its protective mutualist ant Petalomyrmex phylax . To decipher trophic fluxes among the three partners, food enriched in 13 C and 15 N was given to the ants and tracked in the different parts of the symbiosis up to 660 days later. The plant received a small, but significant, amount of nitrogen from the ants. However, the ants fed more intensively the fungus. The pattern of isotope enrichment in the system indicated an ant behaviour that functions specifically to feed the fungus. After 660 days, the introduced nitrogen was still present in the system and homogeneously distributed among ant, plant and fungal compartments, indicating efficient recycling within the symbiosis. Another experiment showed that the plant surface absorbed nutrients (in the form of simple molecules) whether or not it is coated by fungus. Our study provides arguments for a mutualistic status of the fungal associate and a framework for investigating the previously unsuspected complexity of food webs in ant–plant mutualisms.

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Gonthier, David J., Gabriella L. Pardee, and Stacy M. Philpott. "Azteca instabilis ants and the defence of a coffee shade tree: an ant–plant association without mutual rewards in Chiapas, Mexico." Journal of Tropical Ecology 26, no. 3 (March 30, 2010): 343–46. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0266467409990666.

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Ants (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) are important predators of herbivorous insects on plants (Rosumek et al. 2009). Ant removal or absence may result in negative indirect effects on plants, as herbivore abundance and herbivory increase and plant growth and reproduction decline (Rosumek et al. 2009, Schmitz et al. 2000). Ant presence on plants often results from a mutualistic interaction. For example, strong highly coevolved ant–plant mutualisms are found on myrmecophytic plants that house ants in domatia (specialized nesting sites). Weaker mutualistic associations are found with myrmecophilic plants that only offer extra-floral nectaries (EFNs) or food bodies to attract ants, or on other plants hosting honeydew-producing hemipterans (indirect ant–plant interactions) that mediate ant abundance (Hölldobler & Wilson 1990). However, in most cases, plants and arboreal ants form more passive associations, where ants nest in the natural cavities of branches or bark, or construct carton nests on plant substrates (Hölldobler & Wilson 1990) and the only reward plants offer these ants is the use of their substrates. In these situations the indirect effect of ants on plants is merely by chance, a byproduct of ant presence (byproduct association).

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Chomicki, Guillaume, Philip S. Ward, and Susanne S. Renner. "Macroevolutionary assembly of ant/plant symbioses: Pseudomyrmex ants and their ant-housing plants in the Neotropics." Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences 282, no. 1819 (November 22, 2015): 20152200. http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2015.2200.

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Symbioses include some of the clearest cases of coevolution, but their origin, loss or reassembly with different partners can rarely be inferred. Here we use ant/plant symbioses involving three plant clades to investigate the evolution of symbioses. We generated phylogenies for the big-eyed arboreal ants (Pseudomyrmecinae), including 72% of their 286 species, as well as for five of their plant host groups, in each case sampling more than 61% of the species. We show that the ant-housing Vachellia (Mimosoideae) clade and its ants co-diversified for the past 5 Ma, with some species additionally colonized by younger plant-nesting ant species, some parasitic. An apparent co-radiation of ants and Tachigali (Caesalpinioideae) was followed by waves of colonization by the same ant clade, and subsequent occupation by a younger ant group. Wide crown and stem age differences between the ant-housing genus Triplaris (Polygonaceae) and its obligate ant inhabitants, and stochastic trait mapping, indicate that its domatium evolved earlier than the ants now occupying it, suggesting previous symbioses that dissolved. Parasitic ant species evolved from generalists, not from mutualists, and are younger than the mutualistic systems they parasitize. Our study illuminates the macroevolutionary assembly of ant/plant symbioses, which has been highly dynamic, even in very specialized systems.

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Wang, Xu, Qingxi Hu, Weizheng Kong, Chenyang Zhang, Shan Jia, Yuan Chang, Wei Deng, et al. "The correlation analysis between ant mounds and plant resource in Olkhon region." Earth sciences and subsoil use 43, no. 3 (October 7, 2020): 436–46. http://dx.doi.org/10.21285/2686-9993-2020-43-3-436-446.

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Olkhon region in East Siberia has abundant and unique vegetation and animal resource for its peculiar geographic location, including ants. Ant, recognized as ecosystem engineers, has an important role in ecosystem. In order to investigate the ecological role of mound-building ants in this region, we focused our attention on the correlation between the distribution of ant mounds and plant species. Five quadrats (5 m × 5 m) were set up in this region, each of which was then divided into twenty-five quadrats (1 m × 1 m). We collected the location of every Black Bog Ant (Formica candida) mound, the number and biomass of various plants in every small quadrat. Using matrices, we tested the distribution pattern of ant mound randomly. The correlation between plants and ant mound pattern was tested by correlation analysis and regression analysis. The result showed that the spatial distribution of ant mound was random. We also found that Artemisia frigida, Carexduriuscula and Oxytropis sylvesfris had a significant linear relationship with the spatial distribution of ant mound (P < 0.05), suggesting that the spatial distribution of ant mound was dependent on the spatial distribution of some plants. The underlying mechanism was further studied. We attributed this correlation to the feeding habits and foraging strategies of Black Bog Ant and tissue structure of these three plants. Our study figured out the interaction between Black Bog Ant and plant resource in Olkhon region, laying down the foundation for future study on the co-evolution of plant and animal resource in this unique ecosystem.

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Koptur, Suzanne, and Andrew J. Beattie. "Ant-Plant Mutualisms and Their Evolution." Evolution 42, no. 3 (May 1988): 638. http://dx.doi.org/10.2307/2409050.

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Koptur, Suzanne. "ANT-PLANT MUTUALISMS AND THEIR EVOLUTION." Evolution 42, no. 3 (May 1988): 638–39. http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1558-5646.1988.tb04171.x.

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Davidson, Diane W., and Doyle McKey. "Ant-plant symbioses: Stalking the chuyachaqui." Trends in Ecology & Evolution 8, no. 9 (September 1993): 326–32. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/0169-5347(93)90240-p.

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Nelson, Annika S., Nalleli Carvajal Acosta, and Kailen A. Mooney. "Plant chemical mediation of ant behavior." Current Opinion in Insect Science 32 (April 2019): 98–103. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.cois.2018.12.003.

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Harrison, Rhett D. "Ecology of a fig ant–plant." Acta Oecologica 57 (May 2014): 88–96. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.actao.2013.05.008.

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Dáttilo, Wesley, Cecilia Díaz-Castelazo, and Victor Rico-Gray. "Ant dominance hierarchy determines the nested pattern in ant-plant networks." Biological Journal of the Linnean Society 113, no. 2 (August 13, 2014): 405–14. http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/bij.12350.

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Nomura, M., T. Itioka, and K. Murase. "Non-ant antiherbivore defenses before plant-ant colonization in Macaranga myrmecophytes." Population Ecology 43, no. 3 (December 1, 2001): 207–12. http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10144-001-8184-6.

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Martins, J., A. Moreira, M. Assunção, A. Oliveira, and J. Almeida. "Trade-off in plant-ant interactions: seasonal variations." Brazilian Journal of Biology 80, no. 4 (December 2020): 921–33. http://dx.doi.org/10.1590/1519-6984.229848.

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Abstract This work evaluated the effect of seasonality on ant-plant interaction in a Seasonally Dry Tropical Forests, using as an ecological model the species Ipomoea carnea subs. fistulosa (Convolvulaceae). We performed systematic collection of ants, herbivores and leaves in marked plants, evaluated the efficiency of herbivorous capture by ants, and the effects of ant presence over the pollinator behavior and plant fitness in dry and rainy seasons. The presence of ants in the plants reduced the number of herbivores (dry season: F2.27=4.7617, p=0.0166; rainy season: F2.27=5.8655, p=0.0078). However, the capture efficiency was negatively affected by the presence of myrmecophilous larvae, so that the average of ants recruited on termite leaves was 2.06 ants per termite, the average recruitment of ants on larval leaves was 22.4 larva ants. In addition, the presence of ants reduced pollinator visits and promoted fruit reduction during the dry season (ANOVA: F = 3.44; p = 0.0653). In conclusion, the association with ants can result in a balance not always favorable to the host plant, and this result actually depends on abiotic (e.g. precipitation) and biotic factors (e.g. ant species composition and abundance, influence of other trophic levels and identity of associated herbivores).

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Brouat, Carine, Nelly Garcia, Claude Andary, and Doyle McKey. "Plant lock and ant key: pairwise coevolution of an exclusion filter in an ant–plant mutualism." Proceedings of the Royal Society of London. Series B: Biological Sciences 268, no. 1481 (October 22, 2001): 2131–41. http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2001.1763.

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Barriga, Paola A., Carsten F. Dormann, Edward E. Gbur, and Cynthia L. Sagers. "Community structure and ecological specialization in plant–ant interactions." Journal of Tropical Ecology 31, no. 4 (April 28, 2015): 325–34. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0266467415000139.

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Abstract:Environmental effects on species interactions can be studied by comparative analyses of network structure. For example, comparison of interaction networks among study sites can provide clues to geographic variation of host breadth. Obligate plant–ant interactions are ideal systems to explore these phenomena because they are long term and can be accurately sampled in the field. We tested two hypotheses: (1) network structure and host specialization do not vary among communities, and (2) the effects of plant extinction do not vary among communities. We sampled 10 or more plants for each of the 30 ant–plant species found in three Neotropical locations. We found that network specialization,H2′, was significantly higher than expected in random networks. The ant or plant specialization index,d′, distribution did not vary among localities, neither varied in link or asymmetry distribution. Plant extinction simulations showed that these interactions are vulnerable to plant loss, and the null model was more robust than the observed networks. This study provides a foundation on which plant and ant phylogenies can be added to explore compartment evolution.

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Romero, Gustavo Q., and Thiago J. Izzo. "Leaf damage induces ant recruitment in the Amazonian ant-plant Hirtella myrmecophila." Journal of Tropical Ecology 20, no. 6 (October 14, 2004): 675–82. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0266467404001749.

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Allomerus octoarticulatus is a plant-ant that colonizes domatia of the understorey tree Hirtella myrmecophila in the Central Amazon and forages for invertebrates, including leaf herbivores, on the host plant. We conducted manipulative experiments to study the ant's recruitment response to damaged leaves and leaf extracts of the host and to extracts of Protium hebetatum, a non-myrmecophytic sympatric tree species. Artificial damage to leaves of H. myrmecophila caused an increase in the number of recruits to the leaf. Ant response was stronger in young than in mature leaves. Recruitment was restricted to damaged leaves. No increment in recruitment rates was observed in undamaged, adjacent leaves. Different levels of leaf damage did not elicit differences in recruitment rates. Aqueous extract of leaves, placed on undamaged leaves of the host plant, also led to increased recruitment compared with water (control), and more ants were recruited to extracts from young than from mature and old leaves. Extracts of both H. myrmecophila and Protium hebetatum induced recruitment. We discuss the evolutionary importance of plant leaf components for maintenance of the ant-plant mutualism.

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Orivel, Jérôme, Pierre-Jean Malé, Jérémie Lauth, Olivier Roux, Frédéric Petitclerc, Alain Dejean, and Céline Leroy. "Trade-offs in an ant–plant–fungus mutualism." Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences 284, no. 1850 (March 15, 2017): 20161679. http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2016.1679.

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Species engaged in multiple, simultaneous mutualisms are subject to trade-offs in their mutualistic investment if the traits involved in each interaction are overlapping, which can lead to conflicts and affect the longevity of these associations. We investigate this issue via a tripartite mutualism involving an ant plant, two competing ant species and a fungus the ants cultivate to build galleries under the stems of their host plant to capture insect prey. The use of the galleries represents an innovative prey capture strategy compared with the more typical strategy of foraging on leaves. However, because of a limited worker force in their colonies, the prey capture behaviour of the ants results in a trade-off between plant protection (i.e. the ants patrol the foliage and attack intruders including herbivores) and ambushing prey in the galleries, which has a cascading effect on the fitness of all of the partners. The quantification of partners' traits and effects showed that the two ant species differed in their mutualistic investment. Less investment in the galleries (i.e. in fungal cultivation) translated into more benefits for the plant in terms of less herbivory and higher growth rates and vice versa. However, the greater vegetative growth of the plants did not produce a positive fitness effect for the better mutualistic ant species in terms of colony size and production of sexuals nor was the mutualist compensated by the wider dispersal of its queens. As a consequence, although the better ant mutualist is the one that provides more benefits to its host plant, its lower host–plant exploitation does not give this ant species a competitive advantage. The local coexistence of the ant species is thus fleeting and should eventually lead to the exclusion of the less competitive species.

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Malé, Pierre-Jean G., Kyle M. Turner, Manjima Doha, Ina Anreiter, Aaron M. Allen, Marla B. Sokolowski, and Megan E. Frederickson. "An ant–plant mutualism through the lens of cGMP-dependent kinase genes." Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences 284, no. 1862 (September 13, 2017): 20170896. http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2017.0896.

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In plant–animal mutualisms, how an animal forages often determines how much benefit its plant partner receives. In many animals, foraging behaviour changes in response to foraging gene expression or activation of the cGMP-dependent protein kinase (PKG) that foraging encodes. Here, we show that this highly conserved molecular mechanism affects the outcome of a plant–animal mutualism. We studied the two PKG genes of Allomerus octoarticulatus, an Amazonian ant that defends the ant–plant Cordia nodosa against herbivores. Some ant colonies are better ‘bodyguards’ than others. Working in the field in Peru, we found that colonies fed with a PKG activator recruited more workers to attack herbivores than control colonies. This resulted in less herbivore damage. PKG gene expression in ant workers correlated with whether an ant colony discovered an herbivore and how much damage herbivores inflicted on leaves in a complex way; natural variation in expression levels of the two genes had significant interaction effects on ant behaviour and herbivory. Our results suggest a molecular basis for ant protection of plants in this mutualism.

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Fokuhl, Gerriet, Jürgen Heinze, and Peter Poschlod. "An Ant-Plant Mesocosm Experiment Reveals Dispersal Patterns of Myrmecochorous Plants." Forests 10, no. 12 (December 16, 2019): 1149. http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/f10121149.

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For Central European herbs, ants are one common dispersal vector acting at relatively small spatial scales. Though extensively studied concerning the different benefits to plants, specific dispersal patterns mediated by ants have been reportedly very sparsely and without any validation. Thus, we studied the seed dispersal pattern of a set of myrmecochorous plant species in a novel mesocosm experiment. We examined the seed dispersal distances of four forest herbs (Hollow Root–Corydalis cava (L.) Schweigg. & Körte, Alpine Squill–Scilla bifolia L., and Common Dog-violet–Viola riviniana Rchb. and the annual Ivy-leaved Speedwell–Veronica hederifolia L.) by the red ant Myrmica ruginodis Nylander in 8.25 m² large plots under natural conditions with and without ants. In the presence of Myrmica ants, the bulb geophytes C. cava and S. bifolia showed a significantly higher fraction of dispersed seedlings and a maximum dispersal distance of 322 cm. Estimated by nearest neighbor analyses, distances between single C. cava seedlings were significantly higher in ant plots than in exclosures without ants. The annual species Veronica hederifolia showed a few dispersed seedlings in ant plots only, while the diplochorous hemicryptophyte Viola riviniana germinated in a widely scattered manner with distances up to 241 cm due to ballochorous dispersal in both ant and exclosure plots, but with a maximum of 324 cm only by means of ants. Our results indicate the escape from the mother plant and dispersal for distance as an important benefit for myrmecochorous species, potentially accompanied by benefits through reduced competition.

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Vasconcelos, Heraldo L., and Diane W. Davidson. "Relationship between Plant Size and Ant Associates in Two Amazonian Ant-Plants1." BIOTROPICA 32, no. 1 (2000): 100. http://dx.doi.org/10.1646/0006-3606(2000)032[0100:rbpsaa]2.0.co;2.

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Yamasaki, E., Y. Inui, and S. Sakai. "Ant-repelling pollinators: Unique pollination strategy of the ant-plant Macaranga (Euphorbiaceae)." South African Journal of Botany 86 (May 2013): 168–69. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.sajb.2013.02.113.

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Vasconcelos, Heraldo L., and Diane W. Davidson. "Relationship between Plant Size and Ant Associates in Two Amazonian Ant-Plants1." Biotropica 32, no. 1 (March 2000): 100–111. http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1744-7429.2000.tb00452.x.

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Trager, Matthew D., Smriti Bhotika, Jeffrey A. Hostetler, Gilda V. Andrade, Mariano A. Rodriguez-Cabal, C. Seabird McKeon, Craig W. Osenberg, and Benjamin M. Bolker. "Benefits for Plants in Ant-Plant Protective Mutualisms: A Meta-Analysis." PLoS ONE 5, no. 12 (December 22, 2010): e14308. http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0014308.

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Gibernau, Marc, Jérome Orivel, Alain Dejean, Jacques Delabie, and Denis Barabé. "Flowering as a key factor in ant–Philodendron interactions." Journal of Tropical Ecology 24, no. 6 (November 2008): 689–92. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0266467408005488.

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With the spread of angiosperms some lineages of ants, originally ground-dwellers and predators, adapted to arboreal life. Ground-nesting worker ants probably constituted the first case of biotic plant protection through their predatory activity while foraging on plant foliage. Then, ants developed tight evolutionary bonds with plants varying from facultative diffuse relationships to obligatory specific associations, necessary to the survival of both partners. In diffuse relationships plants induce different ant species to patrol their foliage by producing energy-rich food rewards such as extra-floral nectar (EFN) and/or food bodies (FBs) (Dejean et al. 2007, Heil 2008, Heil & McKey 2003). First described by Janzen (1966), myrmecophytes, or plants that provide specialized plant-ants a nesting place in hollow structures called domatia, represent a good example of a strict association as, in return, they are protected from several kinds of enemies, particularly defoliating insects (Heil & McKey 2003, Hölldobler & Wilson 1990).

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Prior, Kirsten M., Jennifer M. Robinson, Shannon A. Meadley Dunphy, and Megan E. Frederickson. "Mutualism between co-introduced species facilitates invasion and alters plant community structure." Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences 282, no. 1800 (February 7, 2015): 20142846. http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2014.2846.

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Generalized mutualisms are often predicted to be resilient to changes in partner identity. Variation in mutualism-related traits between native and invasive species however, can exacerbate the spread of invasive species (‘invasional meltdown’) if invasive partners strongly interact. Here we show how invasion by a seed-dispersing ant ( Myrmica rubra ) promotes recruitment of a co-introduced invasive over native ant-dispersed (myrmecochorous) plants. We created experimental communities of invasive ( M. rubra ) or native ants ( Aphaenogaster rudis ) and invasive and native plants and measured seed dispersal and plant recruitment. In our mesocosms, and in laboratory and field trials, M. rubra acted as a superior seed disperser relative to the native ant. By contrast, previous studies have found that invasive ants are often poor seed dispersers compared with native ants. Despite belonging to the same behavioural guild, seed-dispersing ants were not functionally redundant. Instead, native and invasive ants had strongly divergent effects on plant communities: the invasive plant dominated in the presence of the invasive ant and the native plants dominated in the presence of the native ant. Community changes were not due to preferences for coevolved partners: variation in functional traits of linked partners drove differences. Here, we show that strongly interacting introduced mutualists can be major drivers of ecological change.

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Heil, Martin, Daniel Feil, Andrea Hilpert, and K. Eduard Linsenmair. "Spatiotemporal patterns in indirect defence of a South-East Asian ant-plant support the optimal defence hypothesis." Journal of Tropical Ecology 20, no. 5 (August 9, 2004): 573–80. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0266467404001567.

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The optimal defence hypothesis predicts that plant parts characterized by a high value and/or a high risk of being attacked should exhibit the highest level of defence. We tested this hypothesis with Macaranga bancana ant-plants, which are protected efficiently by resident, mutualistic ants from herbivores, parasites and encroaching vegetation. Because cost-effective defence of the host by ants increases ant fitness, selection should act on ant behaviour to produce patterns of distribution of defence as predicted for direct chemical defence traits. Termites and pieces of tape were equally distributed over the uppermost ten leaves and over the leaf-bearing part of the stems (with termites mimicking a transient herbivore, while tape mimics a long-term stress caused by a climber or plant parasite). This arrangement allowed a separation of putative coevolutionary adaptations in the ants' behaviour from other potential sources of spatial patterns in ant defence, such as differences in herbivore pressure, in the vulnerability of different herbivores, or in direct plant defences. Ant activity dropped rapidly at termite baits, but remained high at tapes for at least 5 h, thereby demonstrating adaptive differential responses to the differences between the two stressors. Most importantly, ants preferentially defended young leaves and shoot parts. The temporal and spatial patterns of ant attention to exogenous stressors thus were clearly adaptive, varying with likely costs and benefits of defence as formulated in the optimal defence theory.

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Macior, Lazarus Walter, and Andrew J. Beattie. "The Evoluntionary Ecology of Ant-Plant Mutualisms." Bulletin of the Torrey Botanical Club 113, no. 3 (July 1986): 312. http://dx.doi.org/10.2307/2996377.

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Brian, M. V., and A. J. Beattie. "The Evolutionary Ecology of Ant-Plant Mutualisms." Journal of Ecology 74, no. 4 (December 1986): 1213. http://dx.doi.org/10.2307/2260244.

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Gunther, Roger W. "Evolution and Ecology of Ant-Plant Interactions." Ecology 74, no. 5 (July 1993): 1609–10. http://dx.doi.org/10.2307/1940094.

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Devenish, A. J. M., J. J. Midgley, R. J. Newton, and S. Sumner. "Invasive synergy in an ant-plant mutualism." South African Journal of Botany 109 (March 2017): 331–32. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.sajb.2017.01.045.

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Dáttilo, Wesley, Paulo R. Guimarães, and Thiago J. Izzo. "Spatial structure of ant-plant mutualistic networks." Oikos 122, no. 11 (May 28, 2013): 1643–48. http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1600-0706.2013.00562.x.

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SMITH, J. M. B. "An example of ant-assisted plant invasion." Austral Ecology 14, no. 2 (June 1989): 247–50. http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1442-9993.1989.tb01433.x.

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Wang, Yuanshi, and Hong Wu. "Stability of plant–pollinator–ant co-mutualism." Applied Mathematics and Computation 261 (June 2015): 231–41. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.amc.2015.03.061.

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Kiew, Ruth. "The evolutionary ecology of ant-plant mutualisms." Trends in Ecology & Evolution 2, no. 5 (May 1987): 141–42. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/0169-5347(87)90059-0.

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Lam, Weng Ngai, and Hugh Tiang Wah Tan. "Carnivorous pitcher plant facilitates its ant prey." Arthropod-Plant Interactions 12, no. 5 (April 23, 2018): 663–70. http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s11829-018-9610-4.

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Wang, Yuanshi, Donald L. DeAngelis, and J. Nathaniel Holland. "Dynamics of an ant–plant-pollinator model." Communications in Nonlinear Science and Numerical Simulation 20, no. 3 (March 2015): 950–64. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.cnsns.2014.06.024.

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Rudgers, Jennifer A., Jillian G. Hodgen, and J. Wilson White. "Behavioral mechanisms underlie an ant-plant mutualism." Oecologia 135, no. 1 (January 30, 2003): 51–59. http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s00442-002-1168-1.

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Journal articles on the topic 'Plant ant'

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