WebJul 1, 2024 · Myrmecophytes are plants in facultative or obligate mutualistic associations with ants. In exchange for protection against herbivores, pathogens and encroaching vegetation, myrmecophytes provide ants with housing and food rewards that are essential to their ant partner’s colony (Janzen 1966; Mayer et al. 2014; Chomicki and Renner 2015 ). WebMay 22, 2008 · Although associations between myrmecophytes and their plant ants are recognized as a particularly effective form of protective mutualism, their functioning remains incompletely understood. This field study examined the ant-plant Hirtella physophora and its obligate ant associate Allomerus decemarticulatus. We formulated two hypotheses on …
Reduced ant defenses in Macaranga myrmecophytes …
WebThe distribution of four myrmecophytic species living in the understory of French Guianian rainforests is different enough to limit exchanges of associated plant-ants, and the … WebJan 16, 2024 · myrmecophyte (plural myrmecophytes) A plant that lives in association with a colony of ants . The degree of association varies and is assumed to be symbiotic in … permitting front desk osceola county
American Journal of Botany - Botanical Society of America
WebMyrmecophily refers to mutualistic associations with ants, though in its more general use, the term may also refer to commensal or even parasitic interactions. The term "myrmecophile" is used mainly for animals that associate with ants. An estimated 10,000 species of ants (Formicidae) are known, with a higher diversity in the tropics. [1] WebThe neotropical myrmecophytes Cordia nodosa and Duroia hirsuta associate with several species of obligately symbiotic ants. I compared the ant partners of Cordia and Duroia with respect to two benefits known to be important in ant-myrmecophyte interactions: protection against herbivores provided by ants, and protection against encroaching ... Webbenefits to myrmecophytes of maintaining plant-ants, and of the selective pressures that maintain these relationships, remains incomplete. First, many studies of ant effects on myrmecophytes have simply compared naturally occupied and unoccupied plants. Because low-quality hosts may be less attractive to, or more likely to permitting for construction