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- By Frank Andrasik, Melissa R. Andrews, Ana Inés Ansaldo, Evangelos G. Antzoulatos, Lianhua Bai, Ellen Barrett, Linamara Battistella, Nicolas Bayle, Michael S. Beattie, Peter J. Beek, Serafin Beer, Heinrich Binder, Claire Bindschaedler, Sarah Blanton, Tasia Bobish, Michael L. Boninger, Joseph F. Bonner, Chadwick B. Boulay, Vanessa S. Boyce, Anna-Katharine Brem, Jacqueline C. Bresnahan, Floor E. Buma, Mary Bartlett Bunge, John H. Byrne, Jeffrey R. Capadona, Stefano F. Cappa, Diana D. Cardenas, Leeanne M. Carey, S. Thomas Carmichael, Glauco A. P. Caurin, Pablo Celnik, Kimberly M. Christian, Stephanie Clarke, Leonardo G. Cohen, Adriana B. Conforto, Rory A. Cooper, Rosemarie Cooper, Steven C. Cramer, Armin Curt, Mark D’Esposito, Matthew B. Dalva, Gavriel David, Brandon Delia, Wenbin Deng, Volker Dietz, Bruce H. Dobkin, Marco Domeniconi, Edith Durand, Tracey Vause Earland, Georg Ebersbach, Jonathan J. Evans, James W. Fawcett, Uri Feintuch, Toby A. Ferguson, Marie T. Filbin, Diasinou Fioravante, Itzhak Fischer, Agnes Floel, Herta Flor, Karim Fouad, Richard S. J. Frackowiak, Peter H. Gorman, Thomas W. Gould, Jean-Michel Gracies, Amparo Gutierrez, Kurt Haas, C.D. Hall, Hans-Peter Hartung, Zhigang He, Jordan Hecker, Susan J. Herdman, Seth Herman, Leigh R. Hochberg, Ahmet Höke, Fay B. Horak, Jared C. Horvath, Richard L. Huganir, Friedhelm C. Hummel, Beata Jarosiewicz, Frances E. Jensen, Michael Jöbges, Larry M. Jordan, Jon H. Kaas, Andres M. Kanner, Noomi Katz, Matthew S. Kayser, Annmarie Kelleher, Gerd Kempermann, Timothy E. Kennedy, Jürg Kesselring, Fary Khan, Rachel Kizony, Jeffery D. Kocsis, Boudewijn J. Kollen, Hubertus Köller, John W. Krakauer, Hermano I. Krebs, Gert Kwakkel, Bradley Lang, Catherine E. Lang, Helmar C. Lehmann, Angelo C. Lepore, Glenn S. Le Prell, Mindy F. Levin, Joel M. Levine, David A. Low, Marilyn MacKay-Lyons, Jeffrey D. Macklis, Margaret Mak, Francine Malouin, William C. Mann, Paul D. Marasco, Christopher J. Mathias, Laura McClure, Jan Mehrholz, Lorne M. Mendell, Robert H. Miller, Carol Milligan, Beth Mineo, Simon W. Moore, Jennifer Morgan, Charbel E-H. Moussa, Martin Munz, Randolph J. Nudo, Joseph J. Pancrazio, Theresa Pape, Alvaro Pascual-Leone, Kristin M. Pearson-Fuhrhop, P. Hunter Peckham, Tamara L. Pelleshi, Catherine Verrier Piersol, Thomas Platz, Marcus Pohl, Dejan B. Popović, Andrew M. Poulos, Maulik Purohit, Hui-Xin Qi, Debbie Rand, Mahendra S. Rao, Josef P. Rauschecker, Aimee Reiss, Carol L. Richards, Keith M. Robinson, Melvyn Roerdink, John C. Rosenbek, Serge Rossignol, Edward S. Ruthazer, Arash Sahraie, Krishnankutty Sathian, Marc H. Schieber, Brian J. Schmidt, Michael E. Selzer, Mijail D. Serruya, Himanshu Sharma, Michael Shifman, Jerry Silver, Thomas Sinkjær, George M. Smith, Young-Jin Son, Tim Spencer, John D. Steeves, Oswald Steward, Sheela Stuart, Austin J. Sumner, Chin Lik Tan, Robert W. Teasell, Gareth Thomas, Aiko K. Thompson, Richard F. Thompson, Wesley J. Thompson, Erika Timar, Ceri T. Trevethan, Christopher Trimby, Gary R. Turner, Mark H. Tuszynski, Erna A. van Niekerk, Ricardo Viana, Difei Wang, Anthony B. Ward, Nick S. Ward, Stephen G. Waxman, Patrice L. Weiss, Jörg Wissel, Steven L. Wolf, Jonathan R. Wolpaw, Sharon Wood-Dauphinee, Ross D. Zafonte, Binhai Zheng, Richard D. Zorowitz
- Edited by Michael Selzer, Stephanie Clarke, Leonardo Cohen, Gert Kwakkel, Robert Miller, Case Western Reserve University, Ohio
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- Textbook of Neural Repair and Rehabilitation
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- 05 May 2014
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- 24 April 2014, pp ix-xvi
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- By Frank Andrasik, Melissa R. Andrews, Ana Inés Ansaldo, Evangelos G. Antzoulatos, Lianhua Bai, Ellen Barrett, Linamara Battistella, Nicolas Bayle, Michael S. Beattie, Peter J. Beek, Serafin Beer, Heinrich Binder, Claire Bindschaedler, Sarah Blanton, Tasia Bobish, Michael L. Boninger, Joseph F. Bonner, Chadwick B. Boulay, Vanessa S. Boyce, Anna-Katharine Brem, Jacqueline C. Bresnahan, Floor E. Buma, Mary Bartlett Bunge, John H. Byrne, Jeffrey R. Capadona, Stefano F. Cappa, Diana D. Cardenas, Leeanne M. Carey, S. Thomas Carmichael, Glauco A. P. Caurin, Pablo Celnik, Kimberly M. Christian, Stephanie Clarke, Leonardo G. Cohen, Adriana B. Conforto, Rory A. Cooper, Rosemarie Cooper, Steven C. Cramer, Armin Curt, Mark D’Esposito, Matthew B. Dalva, Gavriel David, Brandon Delia, Wenbin Deng, Volker Dietz, Bruce H. Dobkin, Marco Domeniconi, Edith Durand, Tracey Vause Earland, Georg Ebersbach, Jonathan J. Evans, James W. Fawcett, Uri Feintuch, Toby A. Ferguson, Marie T. Filbin, Diasinou Fioravante, Itzhak Fischer, Agnes Floel, Herta Flor, Karim Fouad, Richard S. J. Frackowiak, Peter H. Gorman, Thomas W. Gould, Jean-Michel Gracies, Amparo Gutierrez, Kurt Haas, C.D. Hall, Hans-Peter Hartung, Zhigang He, Jordan Hecker, Susan J. Herdman, Seth Herman, Leigh R. Hochberg, Ahmet Höke, Fay B. Horak, Jared C. Horvath, Richard L. Huganir, Friedhelm C. Hummel, Beata Jarosiewicz, Frances E. Jensen, Michael Jöbges, Larry M. Jordan, Jon H. Kaas, Andres M. Kanner, Noomi Katz, Matthew S. Kayser, Annmarie Kelleher, Gerd Kempermann, Timothy E. Kennedy, Jürg Kesselring, Fary Khan, Rachel Kizony, Jeffery D. Kocsis, Boudewijn J. Kollen, Hubertus Köller, John W. Krakauer, Hermano I. Krebs, Gert Kwakkel, Bradley Lang, Catherine E. Lang, Helmar C. Lehmann, Angelo C. Lepore, Glenn S. Le Prell, Mindy F. Levin, Joel M. Levine, David A. Low, Marilyn MacKay-Lyons, Jeffrey D. Macklis, Margaret Mak, Francine Malouin, William C. Mann, Paul D. Marasco, Christopher J. Mathias, Laura McClure, Jan Mehrholz, Lorne M. Mendell, Robert H. Miller, Carol Milligan, Beth Mineo, Simon W. Moore, Jennifer Morgan, Charbel E-H. Moussa, Martin Munz, Randolph J. Nudo, Joseph J. Pancrazio, Theresa Pape, Alvaro Pascual-Leone, Kristin M. Pearson-Fuhrhop, P. Hunter Peckham, Tamara L. Pelleshi, Catherine Verrier Piersol, Thomas Platz, Marcus Pohl, Dejan B. Popović, Andrew M. Poulos, Maulik Purohit, Hui-Xin Qi, Debbie Rand, Mahendra S. Rao, Josef P. Rauschecker, Aimee Reiss, Carol L. Richards, Keith M. Robinson, Melvyn Roerdink, John C. Rosenbek, Serge Rossignol, Edward S. Ruthazer, Arash Sahraie, Krishnankutty Sathian, Marc H. Schieber, Brian J. Schmidt, Michael E. Selzer, Mijail D. Serruya, Himanshu Sharma, Michael Shifman, Jerry Silver, Thomas Sinkjær, George M. Smith, Young-Jin Son, Tim Spencer, John D. Steeves, Oswald Steward, Sheela Stuart, Austin J. Sumner, Chin Lik Tan, Robert W. Teasell, Gareth Thomas, Aiko K. Thompson, Richard F. Thompson, Wesley J. Thompson, Erika Timar, Ceri T. Trevethan, Christopher Trimby, Gary R. Turner, Mark H. Tuszynski, Erna A. van Niekerk, Ricardo Viana, Difei Wang, Anthony B. Ward, Nick S. Ward, Stephen G. Waxman, Patrice L. Weiss, Jörg Wissel, Steven L. Wolf, Jonathan R. Wolpaw, Sharon Wood-Dauphinee, Ross D. Zafonte, Binhai Zheng, Richard D. Zorowitz
- Edited by Michael E. Selzer, Stephanie Clarke, Leonardo G. Cohen, Gert Kwakkel, Robert H. Miller, Case Western Reserve University, Ohio
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- Textbook of Neural Repair and Rehabilitation
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- 24 April 2014, pp ix-xvi
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- By Michael F. Azari, Michael S. Beattie, Michael J. Bell, David M. Benglis, Anat Biegon, Jacqueline C. Bresnahan, A. Ross Bullock, D. James Cooper, Frances Corrigan, Kallol K. Dey, W. Dalton Dietrich, Volker Dietz, Per Enblad, Michael G. Fehlings, Julio C. Furlan, John C. Gensel, Gerald A. Grant, Gopalakrishna Gururaj, Ronald L. Hayes, Lars T. Hillered, John Houle, Jimmy W. Huh, Pavla Jendelová, Theresa A. Jones, Patrick M. Kochanek, Thomas Kossmann, Dorothy A. Kozlowski, Laura Krisa, Andrew Maas, Lawrence F. Marshall, Ankit I. Mehta, David K. Menon, Cristina Morganti-Kossmann, Marion Murray, Virginia F.J. Newcombe, Alistair D. Nichol, Linda Papa, Steven Petratos, Jennie Ponsford, Phillip G. Popovich, Gourikumar K. Prusty, Ramesh Raghupathi, Ricky Rasschaert, Peter L. Reilly, Nataliya Romanyuk, Bob Roozenbeek, Jeffrey V. Rosenfeld, Kathryn E. Saatman, Bridgette D. Semple, Esther Shohami, Eva Syková, Charles H. Tator, Brett Trimble, Robert Vink, Kevin K.W. Wang, Jefferson R. Wilson, Wise Young, Jenna M. Ziebell
- Edited by Cristina Morganti-Kossmann, Ramesh Raghupathi, Andrew Maas
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- Traumatic Brain and Spinal Cord Injury
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- 05 August 2012
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- 19 July 2012, pp ix-xii
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Preface
- Andrew James Beattie
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- The Evolutionary Ecology of Ant–Plant Mutualisms
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- 29 November 1985, pp ix-x
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Summary
The natural history of ant–plant mutualisms has fascinated Western scientists for roughly two centuries. During this time it has become clear that the ways in which plants manipulate ants, and vice versa, can be so complex and subtle as to severely stretch the credence of the observer. The early natural historians described ant–plant relationships in superb detail, but generally inferred that a given relationship was mutualistic from anatomical, morphological, or behavioral data alone. Experimental verification was the exception rather than the rule. Although the experimental approach was tried by a few early workers, such as von Wettstein (1889), its impact was not dramatic until the publication of Janzen's seminal work on acacia ants about twenty years ago. This pioneering research has since been followed by many excellent experimental field studies embracing a variety of ant–plant mutualisms from many kinds of environments. Our knowledge of the selective pressures that produce the mutualistic response, the dynamics of the ant–plant interactions, the benefits to the plants and the ants, and the ways that mutualisms evolve has been vastly improved. At the same time, ant–plant mutualisms are extremely numerous and varied, and so far only a very few cases have been adequately analyzed. As a consequence, generalizations from limited data often have to be made. Whether or not this is wise will be revealed as new studies are published.
Ideas and syntheses generally enter the mind as a result of the stimulation of colleagues.
Index
- Andrew James Beattie
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- The Evolutionary Ecology of Ant–Plant Mutualisms
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- 29 November 1985, pp 177-182
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Frontmatter
- Andrew James Beattie
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- The Evolutionary Ecology of Ant–Plant Mutualisms
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Contents
- Andrew James Beattie
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- The Evolutionary Ecology of Ant–Plant Mutualisms
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7 - Ant pollination
- Andrew James Beattie
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- The Evolutionary Ecology of Ant–Plant Mutualisms
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- 29 November 1985, pp 96-109
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Summary
In a world flora that harbors pollinators as diverse as slugs, mosquitoes, honey-possums, hummingbirds, and thrips; involving mechanisms as bizarre as pseudocopulation, pseudoaggression, and floral fermentation; and with reproductive structures as simple and ephemeral as the buttercup or as complex and long-lived as the Banksia inflorescence, it is very strange indeed that ants have not played a greater part. There are very few well-documented cases of pollination by ants. On the contrary, ants are widely regarded as thieves, parasitizing plants by taking floral rewards intended for pollinators, without performing the movements necessary for pollination (McDade & Kinsman 1980; Wyatt 1981; Fritz & Morse 1981; Willmer & Corbet 1981; Schaffer et al. 1983), or by simply chewing floral organs such as the style and ovary (Galen 1983).
Ant pollination has been reported a number of times: Herniaria ciliolata (Proctor & Yeo 1973), Orthocarpus pusillus (Kincaid 1963), Polygonum cascadense (Hickman 1974), Glaux maritima (Dahl & Hadac 1940), Seseli libanotis (Hagerup 1943), Morinda royoc, Cordia brownei (Percival 1974), Rohdea japonica (Migliorato 1910; but disputed by van der Pijl 1955), and Microtis parviflora (Armstrong 1979). Diamorpha smallii (Crassulaceae) was studied by Wyatt (1981) and Wyatt and Stoneburner (1981), who showed that this diminutive plant is also pollinated by ants, especially Formica shaufussi and F. subsericea. Pollen adheres to the hairs and integumental sculpturing of these ant species. They visit the flowers systematically but the degree of dependence on ant-borne pollen for seed set remains unknown.
3 - Plant protection by direct interaction
- Andrew James Beattie
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- The Evolutionary Ecology of Ant–Plant Mutualisms
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Summary
Ants foraging on plants take a great variety of prey items including insects and other invertebrates that are either herbivores or seed predators. Therefore, the mere presence of hunting foragers can provide some defense against plant enemies. With few exceptions plants are hospitable foraging areas, and once ants have gained access, they will hunt and remove prey irrespective of the size, architecture, or morphology of the plant. Ants remove a great variety of animals that do damage even, as in the case of Monomorium floricola, entering the tunnels of leaf-mining beetles to kill the tiny occupants (Taylor 1937).
The protective character of ants foraging on plants has been recognized for hundreds of years. In various parts of China nests of the weaver ant Oecophylla smaragdina were taken from the forest around citrus and litchi groves and placed on branches of orchard trees. Branches close to the nest were smeared with wax to prevent the ants from leaving the trees, and until they established their food-gathering territory their diet was augmented with dog intestines or silkworm larvae. After several weeks the ants established territories and patrolled the trees aggressively for food. Bamboo poles were used to create bridges from trees with nests to those without, and the groves were soon a mosaic of Oecophylla territories. As long ago as the eleventh century A.D., the Chinese observed the ants removing a considerable variety of insect herbivores and seed predators in large numbers, including stinkbugs of the hemipteran family Pentatomidae, many of which feed on plant sap, and the larvae of the butterfly Papilio demoleus, which were killed by workers stretching the unfortunate victim in several different directions simultaneously and holding it in that position until it died.
9 - Variation and evolution of ant–plant mutualisms
- Andrew James Beattie
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- The Evolutionary Ecology of Ant–Plant Mutualisms
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Summary
The survey of ant–plant mutualisms in Chapters 3–7 presents a complicated picture. In Chapter 3 it was shown that careful studies of plant species that bear extrafloral nectaries have yielded contradictory results. Some show clear evidence of ant protection, others do not. In Chapter 5 the phenomenon of ant feeding of plants was confirmed in a couple of species, but the benefits conferred by ants on a great variety of others that harbor nests remained obscure. In Chapter 6 the discussion of ant dispersal showed that different authors can study the seed and seedling demography of the same elaiosome-bearing species and reach different conclusions as to the importance of ants at these life-history stages. The situation for ant pollination (Chapter 7) is also unclear. The data are scarce and claims of ant pollination, often based on anecdotal evidence, are generally inconclusive. Although it is possible that the differing conclusions reflect individual biases among authors, it seems more likely that they accurately reflect natural variation in function and effect. In this chapter the causes of this variation will be examined using ant protection and ant dispersal as examples.
The evolution of mutualisms is affected by demographic and life-history characteristics of the plant and ant populations. For the ants we know that particular foods are required at particular stages in colony development or reproduction. We also know that profound demographic changes such as the proliferation of worker castes or reproductives are likely to lead to increases and decreases in colony interest in plant rewards.
8 - Food rewards for ant mutualists
- Andrew James Beattie
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Summary
Plants offer two basic types of rewards for the services of ants: housing and food. Housing was discussed in Chapters 2 and 3 and will not be taken up at length here. Food, or nutrition, will be treated in a broad sense. Thus, in addition to carbohydrates, proteins, and lipids ingested for normal metabolism, development, and growth, substances necessary for social organization such as those required for the biosynthesis of mating pheromones, alarm, and defense will be included. Also it should be borne in mind that substances that attract ants to a reward are not necessarily those from which they derive the primary benefit. That is, the distinction between attractants and nutrients may be crucial (Marshall, Beattie, & Bollenbacher 1979).
Ant nutrition
Most ant species involved in seed dispersal or plant protection are omnivores, and the plant rewards harvested by them while performing these services are only part of their overall nutrition. Individual colonies may opportunistically exploit extrafloral nectar, or elaiosomes on seeds at an intensive level for short periods; but almost invariably some workers are foraging at other resources at the same time. A major consequence of this is that the intensity with which plant rewards are harvested varies enormously.
This scenario is not at all surprising when it is remembered that the nutritional requirements of ants vary with the state of the colony, and conversely, the food available to a colony influences the number of individuals or castes.
1 - Introduction
- Andrew James Beattie
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Summary
Walk through the vegetation almost anywhere on earth and you will see ants foraging on plants. The basic interaction has evolved into four ant–plant mutualisms in which ants: (1) protect plants from herbivores and other enemies, (2) feed plants essential nutrients, (3) disperse seeds and fruits, and (4) pollinate. Rewards produced by the plants, chiefly nest sites or food, are utilized by ants and the behavior patterns involved result in one or more of these services.
Much more is known about the benefits to the plants than the benefits to the ants. For example, the anatomy and morphology or chemistry of many of the rewards borne by the plants have been described. Critical field experiments have been performed to test the impact of ant services on plant growth, survivorship, and fecundity, and it is clear that ant services can profoundly affect plant fitness. On the other hand, although ants eagerly occupy plant-borne nest sites and harvest plant-borne food rewards, almost nothing precise is known about how this affects ant fitness. A major gap in our knowledge of ant–plant mutualisms is how the food rewards affect the physiology, growth, and demography of ant colonies. As a consequence of this situation, this book is written primarily from a “plant's point of view.” It also should be noted that fundamentally nonmutualistic ant–plant interactions, such as predation by seed-gathering ants and herbivory by leaf-cutter ants, are referred to only in passing.
References
- Andrew James Beattie
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- The Evolutionary Ecology of Ant–Plant Mutualisms
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- 29 November 1985, pp 146-176
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5 - Myrmecotrophy
- Andrew James Beattie
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- The Evolutionary Ecology of Ant–Plant Mutualisms
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- 29 November 1985, pp 66-72
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Summary
When van der Pijl (1955) reviewed the relationships between ants and plants he perpetuated a number of terms, most of which were first proposed by Warburg (1892). These included myrmecophily for ant pollination, myrmecochory for ant dispersal of seeds, and myrmecotrophy for the feeding of ants by plants, principally by means of extrafloral nectaries. Because myrmecotrophy involves much more than the feeding of ants and has largely been replaced by the concept of ant protection of plants, I intend to put the term to another use. If the subject–object relationship of these terms remains consistent, then myrmecophily denotes the relationship in which ants benefit plants by acting as pollen vectors, myrmecochory describes the benefit to the plant conferred by ants dispersing seeds, and myrmecotrophy implies a relationship in which ants benefit plants by feeding them. As far as I can tell most biologists were unaware of this possibility at the time of van der Pijl's review. Since then, however, the existence of ant-fed plants has been documented.
The nutritional benefit to the plants has been clarified for two Rubiaceous genera from Southeast Asia and northern Queensland that house ants in large tubers derived from the embryonic hypocotyl (see Table 7). Janzen (1974b) observed that the ant Iridomyrmex myrmecodiae abandons the remains of prey in some of the cavities that ramify the tubers of Hydnophytum formicarium and Myrmecodia tuberosa (Figure 8). These cavities are lined with absorptive tissues.
6 - The dispersal of seeds and fruits by ants
- Andrew James Beattie
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Summary
Many species of ants gather seeds. Harvester ants store them in underground granaries and consume them during the winter or dry season. These ants are granivores and the net interaction is usually predation. Other ants gather seeds and fruits distinguished by the presence of external tissues, collectively called elaiosomes, which attract ants and stimulate them to carry the entire seed or fruit back to the nest (Figure 9). There the elaiosomes are removed and typically fed to the larvae. The seeds are then discarded, both intact and viable, either in an abandoned gallery of the nest, or close to an entrance in a refuse pile together with other organic waste. Because the elaiosomes contain ant attractants, and as the seeds are not harmed, the interaction, known as myrmecochory, has long been assumed to be a mutualism. Until recently, however, the advantages of the interaction, especially for the plants, have remained undocumented. Recent studies have shed light on the problem, and there appear to be five current hypotheses on the selective advantage to plants of dispersal of seeds and fruits by ants.
The predator-avoidance hypothesis
Seed predators are so diverse and abundant that plant species must be under great selective pressure to avoid them. The essence of this hypothesis is that seeds released from the parent plant are quickly taken by ants to their nests, where they find refuge from predators. The ants are rewarded with nutritive elaiosome tissue and then rapidly lose interest in the seed, which either is not a part of their diet, or is unavailable because it is protected by a tough seed coat.
4 - Plant protection by indirect interaction
- Andrew James Beattie
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- The Evolutionary Ecology of Ant–Plant Mutualisms
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Summary
Homopterans
Ants are notorious for the habit of maintaining colonies of homopterans on plants (Figure 7). The principal families involved are the Membracidae or treehoppers, the Cicadellidae (Jassidae) or leafhoppers, the Psyllidae or “lerps,” the Fulgoridae or planthoppers, the Aphididae or plant lice, the Coccidae or soft scales, and the Pseudococcidae or mealybugs. Together they represent thousands of different interactions with ants, the majority still undescribed and unstudied. Interactions between homopterans and ants have been reviewed by Way (1963) and many are fundamentally mutualistic. The Homoptera secrete honeydew on which the ants feed. In return, the ants provide a number of vital services to the homopterans.
Homopterans take sap directly from the phloem through the slender mouthparts. Phloem contents are under several atmospheres of hydrostatic pressure and little effort is required for ingestion. However, the animals are capable of regulating their intake (Kennedy & Fosbrooke 1972). Changes in the chemical constitution of the sap occur during its passage through the homopteran gut so that when it becomes available to ants as honeydew it contains a variety of sugars, organic acids, alcohols, plant hormones, salts, vitamins, amino acids, and amides (Brian 1977). The main nitrogenous components of honeydew are amino acids, but these fluctuate widely according to the condition of the host plant (Mittler 1958; Llewellyn, Rashid, & Leckstein, 1974). However, a low nitrogen content in the sap stimulates the homopterans to increase the rate of feeding.
2 - Origins and early evolution of ant–plant mutualisms
- Andrew James Beattie
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- The Evolutionary Ecology of Ant–Plant Mutualisms
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In this chapter I first examine fossil ants and plants and primitive living ants and angiosperms to try to reconstruct the origin and early evolution of ant–plant interactions. The fossil record is fragmentary and even extant primitive species may be only remotely related to those that were involved in the first interactions. This discussion is therefore speculative.
Ants and plants in the Cretaceous
It is now generally agreed that the flowering plants (angiosperms) had spread across most of the land masses of the world and had diversified dramatically during the early part of the Cretaceous period. By mid-Cretaceous, about 100 million years before present, this plant group was dominant among terrestrial vegetation (Raven 1977; Doyle 1978). The many suggestions for the causes of this comparatively rapid ascent include changing physical, climatic, and geographical conditions (Axelrod 1970), the rise of major insect pollinator groups (Takhtajan 1969; Crepet 1979), the appearance of avian and mammalian seed-dispersal agents (Regal 1977), the proliferation of herbivores (Ehrlich & Raven 1964; Burger 1981), and the evolution of novel plant secondary compounds (Swain 1977, 1978). In this chapter, I argue that another factor, the ants, contributed significantly to the success and adaptive radiation of the flowering plants.
Given that the fossil record places the angiosperm rise to dominance in the early to mid-Cretaceous, it is appropriate to ask when the ants began to flourish. The order Hymenoptera, to which the ants belong, first appeared in the early Triassic, perhaps 100 million years before the angiosperm accession.
The Evolutionary Ecology of Ant–Plant Mutualisms
- Andrew James Beattie
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- 29 November 1985
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Mutualistic interactions between ants and plants involve rewards offered by plants and services performed by ants in a mutually advantageous relationship. The rewards are principally food and/or nest sites, and ants in turn perform a number of services for plants: they disperse and plant seeds; they protect foliage, buds, and reproductive structures from enemies such as herbivores and seed predators; they fertilize plants with essential nutrients; and they may sometimes function as pollinators. In this book, initially published in 1985, Professor Beattie reviews the fascinating natural history of ant–plant interactions, discusses the scientific evidence for the mutualistic nature of these relationships, and reaches some conclusions about the ecological and evolutionary processes that mold them. This important work explores the natural history, experimental approach, and integration with contemporary evolutionary and ecological literature of the time will appeal to a wide variety of biologists.