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Zhou G, Liu JX, Liu J, Yang J, Qiao X, Cao M, Jiang M. Ants may buffer the Janzen-Connell effect in a tropical forest in Southwest China. Ecology 2024; 105:e4380. [PMID: 39031002 DOI: 10.1002/ecy.4380] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/31/2023] [Revised: 03/11/2024] [Accepted: 05/24/2024] [Indexed: 07/22/2024]
Abstract
Mutualistic symbioses between ants and plants are widespread in nature. Ants can deter unwanted pests and provide protection for plants in return for food or housing rewards. Using a long-term demographic dataset in a tropical seasonal rain forest in Southwest China, we found that associations with ants positively influenced seedling survival and adult growth, and also, species with extrafloral nectaries experienced weaker conspecific negative density dependence compared with species without extrafloral nectaries. Furthermore, we found strong evidence suggesting that species in our forest experienced conspecific density dependence, which we interpreted as heavy pest pressure that may drive the development of anti-pest symbioses such as the plant-ant relationship. Our findings suggest that ants and conspecific neighbors play important but inverse roles on plant survival and growth and that ants can buffer tree neighborhood interactions in this tropical forest.
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Affiliation(s)
- Gang Zhou
- Key Laboratory of Aquatic Botany and Watershed Ecology, Wuhan Botanical Garden, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Wuhan, China
- University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China
| | - Jing-Xin Liu
- CAS Key Laboratory of Tropical Forest Ecology, Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Mengla, China
| | - Jikun Liu
- College of Agriculture, Yangtze University, Jingzhou, China
| | - Jie Yang
- CAS Key Laboratory of Tropical Forest Ecology, Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Mengla, China
- Center of Plant Ecology, Core Botanical Gardens, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Mengla, China
| | - Xiujuan Qiao
- Key Laboratory of Aquatic Botany and Watershed Ecology, Wuhan Botanical Garden, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Wuhan, China
- State Key Laboratory of Plant Diversity and Specialty Crops, Wuhan Botanical Garden, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Wuhan, China
| | - Min Cao
- CAS Key Laboratory of Tropical Forest Ecology, Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Mengla, China
- Center of Plant Ecology, Core Botanical Gardens, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Mengla, China
| | - Mingxi Jiang
- Key Laboratory of Aquatic Botany and Watershed Ecology, Wuhan Botanical Garden, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Wuhan, China
- State Key Laboratory of Plant Diversity and Specialty Crops, Wuhan Botanical Garden, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Wuhan, China
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Cárdenas RE, Rodríguez-Ortega C, Utreras D, Forrister DL, Endara MJ, Queenborough SA, Alvia P, Menéndez-Guerrero PA, Báez S, Donoso DA. Long-term strict ant-plant mutualism identity characterises growth rate and leaf shearing resistance of an Amazonian myrmecophyte. Sci Rep 2024; 14:17813. [PMID: 39090121 PMCID: PMC11294366 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-024-67140-4] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/30/2023] [Accepted: 07/08/2024] [Indexed: 08/04/2024] Open
Abstract
Over 125 million years of ant-plant interactions have culminated in one of the most intriguing evolutionary outcomes in life history. The myrmecophyte Duroia hirsuta (Rubiaceae) is known for its mutualistic association with the ant Myrmelachista schumanni and several other species, mainly Azteca, in the north-western Amazon. While both ants provide indirect defences to plants, only M. schumanni nests in plant domatia and has the unique behaviour of clearing the surroundings of its host tree from heterospecific plants, potentially increasing resource availability to its host. Using a 12-year survey, we asked how the continuous presence of either only M. schumanni or only Azteca spp. benefits the growth and defence traits of host trees. We found that the continuous presence of M. schumanni improved relative growth rates and leaf shearing resistance of Duroia better than trees with Azteca. However, leaf herbivory, dry matter content, trichome density, and secondary metabolite production were the same in all trees. Survival depended directly on ant association (> 94% of trees died when ants were absent). This study extends our understanding of the long-term effects of strict ant-plant mutualism on host plant traits in the field and reinforces the use of D. hirsuta-M. schumanni as a model system suitable for eco-co-evolutionary research on plant-animal interactions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Rafael E Cárdenas
- Museo de Zoología QCAZ, Laboratorio de Entomología y Herbario QCA, Laboratorio de Ecología de Plantas, Escuela de Ciencias Biológicas, Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales, Pontificia Universidad Católica del Ecuador, Av. 12 de Octubre 1076 y Roca, Apdo. 17-01-2184, Quito, Ecuador.
| | - Camila Rodríguez-Ortega
- Museo de Zoología QCAZ, Laboratorio de Entomología y Herbario QCA, Laboratorio de Ecología de Plantas, Escuela de Ciencias Biológicas, Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales, Pontificia Universidad Católica del Ecuador, Av. 12 de Octubre 1076 y Roca, Apdo. 17-01-2184, Quito, Ecuador
| | - Daniel Utreras
- Museo de Zoología QCAZ, Laboratorio de Entomología y Herbario QCA, Laboratorio de Ecología de Plantas, Escuela de Ciencias Biológicas, Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales, Pontificia Universidad Católica del Ecuador, Av. 12 de Octubre 1076 y Roca, Apdo. 17-01-2184, Quito, Ecuador
| | - Dale L Forrister
- Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, Apdo. 0843-03092, Balboa, Republic of Panama
| | - María-José Endara
- Grupo de Investigación en Ecología Evolutiva en los Trópicos-EETROP, Universidad de Las Américas, Quito, Ecuador
| | - Simon A Queenborough
- Museo de Zoología QCAZ, Laboratorio de Entomología y Herbario QCA, Laboratorio de Ecología de Plantas, Escuela de Ciencias Biológicas, Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales, Pontificia Universidad Católica del Ecuador, Av. 12 de Octubre 1076 y Roca, Apdo. 17-01-2184, Quito, Ecuador
- Yale School of the Environment, Yale University, New Haven, CT, USA
| | - Pablo Alvia
- Estación Científica Yasuní, Pontificia Universidad Católica del Ecuador, Parque Nacional Yasuní, Orellana, Ecuador
| | - Pablo A Menéndez-Guerrero
- Laboratorio de Macroecología y Cambio Global, Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales, Pontificia Universidad Católica del Ecuador, Av. 12 de Octubre 1076 y Roca, Apdo. 17-01-2184, Quito, Ecuador
| | - Selene Báez
- Departamento de Biología, Facultad de Ciencias, Escuela Politécnica Nacional, Quito, Ecuador
| | - David A Donoso
- Grupo de Investigación en Ecología Evolutiva en los Trópicos-EETROP, Universidad de Las Américas, Quito, Ecuador
- Departamento de Biología, Facultad de Ciencias, Escuela Politécnica Nacional, Quito, Ecuador
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Donald ML, Miller TEX. Does ant-plant mutualism have spillover effects on the non-partner ant community? Ecol Evol 2022; 12:e8524. [PMID: 35127034 PMCID: PMC8796954 DOI: 10.1002/ece3.8524] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/07/2021] [Revised: 12/03/2021] [Accepted: 12/10/2021] [Indexed: 11/25/2022] Open
Abstract
Mutualism benefits partner species, and theory predicts these partnerships can affect the abundance, diversity, and composition of partner and non-partner species. We used 16 years of monitoring data to determine the ant partner species of tree cholla cacti (Cylindropuntia imbricata), which reward ants with extrafloral nectar in exchange for anti-herbivore defense. These long-term data revealed one dominant ant partner (Liometopum apiculatum) and two less common partners (Crematogaster opuntiae and Forelius pruinosus). We then used short-term characterization of the terrestrial ant community by pitfall trapping to sample partner and non-partner ant species across ten plots of varying cactus density. We found that the dominant ant partner tended a higher proportion cacti in plots of higher cactus density, and was also found at higher occurrence within the pitfall traps in higher density plots, suggesting a strong positive feedback that promotes ant partner occurrence where plant partners are available. Despite the strong association and increased partner occurrence, ant community-wide effects from this mutualism appear limited. Of the common ant species, the occurrence of a single non-partner ant species was negatively associated with cactus density and with the increased presence of L. apiculatum. Additionally, the composition and diversity of the ant community in our plots were insensitive to cactus density variation, indicating that positive effects of the mutualism on the dominant ant partner did not have cascading impacts on the ant community. This study provides novel evidence that exclusive mutualisms, even those with a strong positive feedback, may be limited in the scope of their community-level effects.
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Affiliation(s)
- Marion L. Donald
- Program in Ecology and Evolutionary BiologyDepartment of BioSciencesRice UniversityHoustonTexasUSA
- Biocontrol & Molecular EcologyManaaki Whenua Landcare ResearchLincolnNew Zealand
| | - Tom E. X. Miller
- Program in Ecology and Evolutionary BiologyDepartment of BioSciencesRice UniversityHoustonTexasUSA
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Chomicki G, Weber M, Antonelli A, Bascompte J, Kiers ET. The Impact of Mutualisms on Species Richness. Trends Ecol Evol 2019; 34:698-711. [DOI: 10.1016/j.tree.2019.03.003] [Citation(s) in RCA: 42] [Impact Index Per Article: 8.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/04/2019] [Revised: 03/11/2019] [Accepted: 03/18/2019] [Indexed: 11/28/2022]
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Sinu PA, Sibisha VC, Nikhila Reshmi MV, Reshmi KS, Jasna TV, Aswathi K, Megha PP. Invasive ant (Anoplolepis gracilipes) disrupts pollination in pumpkin. Biol Invasions 2017. [DOI: 10.1007/s10530-017-1470-9] [Citation(s) in RCA: 19] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
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