1
|
Callejas-Chavero A, Martínez-Hernández DG, Vargas-Mendoza CF, Flores-Martínez A. Herbivory in Myrtillocactus geometrizans (Cactaceae): Do Parasitoids Provide Indirect Defense or a Direct Advantage? PLANTS (BASEL, SWITZERLAND) 2022; 12:47. [PMID: 36616177 PMCID: PMC9824105 DOI: 10.3390/plants12010047] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/12/2022] [Revised: 11/27/2022] [Accepted: 12/12/2022] [Indexed: 06/17/2023]
Abstract
Plants respond to herbivory in diverse, complex ways, ranging from avoidance or tolerance to indirect defense mechanisms such as attracting natural enemies of herbivores, i.e., parasitoids or predators, to strengthen their defense. Defense provided by parasitoids to cultivated plants is well documented and is used in biological control programs. However, its effectiveness on wild plants under natural conditions has been little studied. Such is the case of the cactus Myrtilllocactus geometrizans (known in Mexico as garambullo), which is consumed by the soft-scale insect Toumeyella martinezae (herbivore) which, in turn, is host to the parasitoid wasp Mexidalgus toumeyellus, and mutualist with the ant Liometopum apiculatum, that tenders and protects it. This study explores the role of the parasitoid as an indirect defense, by examining its effect on both the herbivore and the plant, and how this interaction is affected by the presence of the mutualistic ant. We found that scales adversely affect the cactus' growth, flower, and fruit production, as well as its progeny's performance, as seedlings from scale-infested garambullo plants were shorter, and it also favors the presence of fungus (sooty mold). The parasitoid responded positively to herbivore abundance, but the presence of ants reduced the intensity of parasitism. Our results show that parasitoids can function as an indirect defense, but their effectiveness is reduced by the presence of the herbivore's mutualistic ant.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Alicia Callejas-Chavero
- Laboratorio de Ecología Vegetal, Departamento de Botánica, Escuela Nacional de Ciencias Biológicas, Instituto Politécnico Nacional, Mexico City 11340, Mexico
| | - Diana Guadalupe Martínez-Hernández
- Laboratorio de Ecología Vegetal, Departamento de Botánica, Escuela Nacional de Ciencias Biológicas, Instituto Politécnico Nacional, Mexico City 11340, Mexico
| | - Carlos Fabian Vargas-Mendoza
- Laboratorio de Variación Biológica y Evolución, Departamento de Zoología, Escuela Nacional de Ciencias Biológicas, Instituto Politécnico Nacional, Mexico City 11340, Mexico
| | - Arturo Flores-Martínez
- Laboratorio de Ecología Vegetal, Departamento de Botánica, Escuela Nacional de Ciencias Biológicas, Instituto Politécnico Nacional, Mexico City 11340, Mexico
| |
Collapse
|
2
|
Villamil N, Boege K, Stone GN. Defensive mutualists affect outcross pollen transfer and male fitness in their host plant. OIKOS 2022. [DOI: 10.1111/oik.08788] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/27/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Nora Villamil
- Inst. of Evolutionary Biology, Univ. of Edinburgh, Ashworth Laboratories, The King's Buildings Edinburgh UK
- Dept of Ecology and Evolution, Univ. de Lausanne Biophore Lausanne Switzerland
| | - Karina Boege
- Inst. de Ecología, Univ. Nacional Autónoma de México, Ciudad Universitaria Ciudad De México México
| | - Graham N. Stone
- Inst. of Evolutionary Biology, Univ. of Edinburgh, Ashworth Laboratories, The King's Buildings Edinburgh UK
| |
Collapse
|
3
|
Yamawo A, Suzuki N, Tagawa J. Species diversity and biological trait function: Effectiveness of ant–plant mutualism decreases as ant species diversity increases. Funct Ecol 2021. [DOI: 10.1111/1365-2435.13859] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/30/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Akira Yamawo
- Department of Applied Biological Sciences Faculty of Agriculture Saga University Saga Japan
| | - Nobuhiko Suzuki
- Department of Applied Biological Sciences Faculty of Agriculture Saga University Saga Japan
| | - Jun Tagawa
- Department of Biosphere–Geosphere System Science Faculty of Informatics Okayama University of Science Okayama Japan
| |
Collapse
|
4
|
Lach L, Hoffmann BD, Moir ML. Native and non-native sources of carbohydrate correlate with abundance of an invasive ant. NEOBIOTA 2020. [DOI: 10.3897/neobiota.63.57925] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/12/2022]
Abstract
Invasive species threaten many ecological communities and predicting which communities and sites are invasible remains a key goal of invasion ecology. Although invasive ants often reach high abundances in association with plant-based carbohydrate resources, the source and provenance of these resources are rarely investigated. We characterized carbohydrate resources across ten sites with a range of yellow crazy ant abundance in Arnhem Land, Australia and New Caledonia to determine whether yellow crazy ant (Anoplolepis gracilipes) abundance and trophic position correlate with carbohydrate availability, as well as the relative importance of native and non-native sources of carbohydrates to ant diet. In both locations, measures of yellow crazy ant abundance strongly positively correlated with carbohydrate availability, particularly honeydew production, the number of tended hemipterans, and the number of plants with tended hemipterans. In Arnhem Land, 99.6% of honeydew came from native species, whereas in New Caledonia, only 0.2% of honeydew was produced by a native hemipteran. More honeydew was available in Australia due to three common large-bodied species of Auchenorrhyncha honeydew producers (treehoppers and leafhoppers). Yellow crazy ant trophic position declined with increasing yellow crazy ant abundance indicating that in greater densities the ants are obtaining more of their diet from plant-derived resources, including honeydew and extrafloral nectar. The relationships between yellow crazy ant abundance and carbohydrate availability could not be explained by any of the key environmental variables we measured at our study sites. Our results demonstrate that the positive correlation between yellow crazy ant abundance and honeydew production is not contingent upon the provenance of the hemipterans. Native sources of carbohydrate may play an underappreciated role in greatly increasing community invasibility by ants.
Collapse
|
5
|
Gibert A, Tozer W, Westoby M. Plant performance response to eight different types of symbiosis. THE NEW PHYTOLOGIST 2019; 222:526-542. [PMID: 30697746 DOI: 10.1111/nph.15392] [Citation(s) in RCA: 18] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/17/2018] [Accepted: 07/07/2018] [Indexed: 06/09/2023]
Abstract
Almost all plant species interact with one or more symbioses somewhere within their distribution range. Bringing together plant trait data and growth responses to symbioses spanning 552 plant species, we provide for the first time on a large scale (597 studies) a quantitative synthesis on plant performance differences between eight major types of symbiosis, including mycorrhizas, N-fixing bacteria, fungal endophytes and ant-plant interactions. Frequency distributions of plant growth responses varied considerably between different types of symbiosis, in terms of both mean effect and 'risk', defined here as percentage of experiments reporting a negative effect of symbiosis on plants. Contrary to expectation, plant traits were poor predictors of growth response across and within all eight symbiotic associations. Our analysis showed no systematic additive effect when a host plant engaged in two functionally different symbioses. This synthesis suggests that plant species' ecological strategies have little effect in determining the influence of a symbiosis on host plant growth. Reliable quantification of differences in plant performance across symbioses will prove valuable for developing general hypotheses on how species become engaged in mutualisms without a guarantee of net returns.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Anais Gibert
- Department of Biological Sciences, Macquarie University, Sydney, NSW, 2109, Australia
| | - Wade Tozer
- Department of Biological Sciences, Macquarie University, Sydney, NSW, 2109, Australia
| | - Mark Westoby
- Department of Biological Sciences, Macquarie University, Sydney, NSW, 2109, Australia
| |
Collapse
|
6
|
Vilela AA, Del-Claro K. Effects of different ant species on the attendance of neighbouring hemipteran colonies and the outcomes for the host plant. J NAT HIST 2018. [DOI: 10.1080/00222933.2018.1432774] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/18/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Andréa Andrade Vilela
- Laboratório de Ecologia Comportamental e Interações, Instituto de Biologia, Universidade Federal de Uberlândia, Uberlândia, Brasil
| | - Kleber Del-Claro
- Laboratório de Ecologia Comportamental e Interações, Instituto de Biologia, Universidade Federal de Uberlândia, Uberlândia, Brasil
| |
Collapse
|
7
|
Huang J, Zhang PJ, Zhang J, Tang YY. An ant-coccid mutualism affects the behavior of the parasitoid Aenasius bambawalei, but not that of the ghost ant Tetramorium bicarinatum. Sci Rep 2017; 7:5175. [PMID: 28701713 PMCID: PMC5507978 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-017-05442-6] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/11/2017] [Accepted: 05/30/2017] [Indexed: 11/09/2022] Open
Abstract
Mutualisms between honeydew-producing insects and ants change the emission of volatiles from plants, but whether such changes alter the behaviors of ants that tend honeydew-producing insects or wasps that parasitize honeydew-producing insects remain unknown. This study compared the behavioral responses of the ant Tetramorium bicarinatum and the parasitoid wasp Aenasius bambawalei to odors from cotton plants infested with the mealybug Phenacoccus solenopsis or infested with the mealybug and the ant, which tends the mealybug. The ant could not distinguish between the volatiles from plants infested with the mealybug alone and those from plants infested with the mealybug and the ant. Likewise, naïve wasps failed to distinguish between volatiles from the two treatments. In contrast, experienced wasps preferred volatiles from plants infested with the mealybug and the ant. Volatile analysis showed that the amounts of MeSA were increased and those of methyl nicotinate were decreased when plants were infested by the mealybug and the ant rather than when plants were uninfested or were infested by the mealybug alone. Thus, the mutualism between the mealybug and ant changed the volatiles emitted by cotton plants such that the attraction of A. bambawalei (but not that of the ant) to the plants was increased.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Jun Huang
- Flower Research and Development Centre, Zhejiang Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Hangzhou, 311202, China.
| | - Peng-Jun Zhang
- Zhejiang Provincial Key Laboratory of Biometrology and Inspection & Quarantine, College of Life Sciences, China Jiliang University, Hangzhou, 310018, China
| | - Juan Zhang
- Flower Research and Development Centre, Zhejiang Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Hangzhou, 311202, China
| | - Ya-Yuan Tang
- Flower Research and Development Centre, Zhejiang Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Hangzhou, 311202, China
| |
Collapse
|
8
|
Sotomayor DA, Lortie CJ. Indirect interactions in terrestrial plant communities: emerging patterns and research gaps. Ecosphere 2015. [DOI: 10.1890/es14-00117.1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 42] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/18/2022] Open
|
9
|
Heil M. Extrafloral nectar at the plant-insect interface: a spotlight on chemical ecology, phenotypic plasticity, and food webs. ANNUAL REVIEW OF ENTOMOLOGY 2015; 60:213-32. [PMID: 25564741 DOI: 10.1146/annurev-ento-010814-020753] [Citation(s) in RCA: 69] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 05/06/2023]
Abstract
Plants secrete extrafloral nectar (EFN) as an induced defense against herbivores. EFN contains not only carbohydrates and amino acids but also pathogenesis-related proteins and other protective enzymes, making EFN an exclusive reward. EFN secretion is commonly induced after wounding, likely owing to a jasmonic acid-induced cell wall invertase, and is limited by phloem sucrose availability: Both factors control EFN secretion according to the optimal defense hypothesis. Non-ant EFN consumers include parasitoids, wasps, spiders, mites, bugs, and predatory beetles. Little is known about the relevance of EFN to the nutrition of its consumers and, hence, to the structuring of arthropod communities. The mutualism can be established quickly among noncoevolved (e.g., invasive) species, indicating its easy assembly is due to ecological fitting. Therefore, increasing efforts are directed toward using EFN in biocontrol. However, documentation of the importance of EFN for the communities of plants and arthropods in natural, invasive, and agricultural ecosystems is still limited.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Martin Heil
- Departamento de Ingeniería Genética, CINVESTAV-Irapuato, 36821 Irapuato, Guanajuato, México;
| |
Collapse
|
10
|
Chanam J, Kasinathan S, Pramanik GK, Jagdeesh A, Joshi KA, Borges RM. Foliar Extrafloral Nectar ofHumboldtia brunonis(Fabaceae), a Paleotropic Ant-plant, is Richer than Phloem Sap and More Attractive than Honeydew. Biotropica 2014. [DOI: 10.1111/btp.12185] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 02/06/2023]
Affiliation(s)
- Joyshree Chanam
- Centre for Ecological Sciences; Indian Institute of Science; Bangalore 560012 India
| | | | - Gautam K. Pramanik
- Centre for Ecological Sciences; Indian Institute of Science; Bangalore 560012 India
| | - Amaraja Jagdeesh
- Centre for Ecological Sciences; Indian Institute of Science; Bangalore 560012 India
| | - Kanchan A. Joshi
- Centre for Ecological Sciences; Indian Institute of Science; Bangalore 560012 India
| | - Renee M. Borges
- Centre for Ecological Sciences; Indian Institute of Science; Bangalore 560012 India
| |
Collapse
|
11
|
Marazzi B, Bronstein JL, Koptur S. The diversity, ecology and evolution of extrafloral nectaries: current perspectives and future challenges. ANNALS OF BOTANY 2013; 111:1243-50. [PMID: 23704115 PMCID: PMC3662527 DOI: 10.1093/aob/mct109] [Citation(s) in RCA: 78] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 05/04/2023]
Abstract
BACKGROUND Plants in over one hundred families in habitats worldwide bear extrafloral nectaries (EFNs). EFNs display a remarkable diversity of evolutionary origins, as well as diverse morphology and location on the plant. They secrete extrafloral nectar, a carbohydrate-rich food that attracts ants and other arthropods, many of which protect the plant in return. By fostering ecologically important protective mutualisms, EFNs play a significant role in structuring both plant and animal communities. And yet researchers are only now beginning to appreciate their importance and the range of ecological, evolutionary and morphological diversity that EFNs exhibit. SCOPE This Highlight features a series of papers that illustrate some of the newest directions in the study of EFNs. Here, we introduce this set of papers by providing an overview of current understanding and new insights on EFN diversity, ecology and evolution. We highlight major gaps in our current knowledge, and outline future research directions. CONCLUSIONS Our understanding of the roles EFNs play in plant biology is being revolutionized with the use of new tools from developmental biology and genomics, new modes of analysis allowing hypothesis-testing in large-scale phylogenetic frameworks, and new levels of inquiry extending to community-scale interaction networks. But many central questions remain unanswered; indeed, many have not yet been asked. Thus, the EFN puzzle remains an intriguing challenge for the future.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Brigitte Marazzi
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ 85721, USA.
| | | | | |
Collapse
|