| Literature DB >> 34249306 |
Carmen Agglael Vergara-Torres1, Cecilia Díaz-Castelazo2, Víctor Hugo Toledo-Hernández3, Alejandro Flores-Palacios3.
Abstract
Ants benefit myrmecophytic plants by two main activities defending them from herbivores and offering nutrients. Ants' territorial defence behaviour also benefits their myrmecophytic plants; in the case of trees, this behaviour includes eliminating structural parasites (epiphytes and lianas). These benefits could also occur with myrmecophytic epiphytes by decreasing the abundance of competing epiphytes. In two subunits of a tropical dry forest in the centre of Mexico, we (i) recorded the diversity of ants associated with the myrmecophyte Tillandsia caput-medusae, and experimentally tested: (ii) the effect of the ants associated with the myrmecophyte in the removal of its seeds and the seeds of other sympatric non-myrmecophyte species of Tillandsia; and (iii) if seed remotion by ants corresponds with epiphyte load in the preferred (Bursera copallifera) and limiting phorophyte species (B. fagaroides, Ipomoea pauciflora and Sapium macrocarpum). In five trees per species, we tied seed batches of T. caput-medusae, T. hubertiana, T. schiedeana and T. recurvata. One seed batch was close, and the other far away from a T. caput-medusae with active ants. Between forest subunits, ant richness was similar, but diversity and evenness differed. Ants diminish seed establishment of all the Tillandsia species; this effect is stronger in the forest subunit with a large ant diversity, maybe because of ant competition. Seed remotion by ants is independent of phorophyte species identity. Although ants can provide benefits to T. caput-medusae, they also could be lowering their abundance.Entities:
Keywords: Ant–plant interactions; plant establishment; plant–plant interactions; seed remotion
Year: 2021 PMID: 34249306 PMCID: PMC8266655 DOI: 10.1093/aobpla/plab024
Source DB: PubMed Journal: AoB Plants Impact factor: 3.276
Figure 1.Tillandsia caput-medusae. We show in A: the plant with inflorescences. In B: an individual of Camponotus rectangularis (2) with its larvae and eggs, and the reddish inner layer of the cut leaf forming the domatia (3). In C: the entrance of a domatium (1).
Ant diversity and percentage of ant species occurrence in plants of T. caput-medusae of two subunits (limestone and lava-rock) of a tropical dry forests in San Andrés de la Cal, Tepoztlán, Mexico.
| Ant species | Forest subunit | |
|---|---|---|
| Lava-rock ( | Limestone ( | |
| Formicinae | ||
| | 2.0 % | 3.5 % |
| | – | 1.8 % |
| | 14.0 % | 36.8 % |
| Myrmicinae | ||
| | – | 1.8 % |
| | 12.0 % | – |
| | – | 7.0 % |
| | 2.0 % | – |
| Pseudomyrmecinae | ||
| | – | 1.8 % |
| | 2.0 % | – |
| Species richness or 0 | 5 | 6 |
|
| 1.25 (3.5) | 1.05 (2.8) |
| Pielou evenness, | 0.78 | 0.58 |
Means (± SD) of the height and number of rosettes of T. caput-medusae plants found in two subunits (limestone and lava-rock) of tropical dry forests in San Andrés de la Cal, Tepoztlán, Mexico. In the last column we show the test statistic (U) for the Mann–Whitney test comparing each variable between forest subunits and its probability (P).
| Trait | Lava-rock ( | Limestone ( |
|
|
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Number of rosettes | 1.8 ± 1.3 | 2.2 ± 1.9 | 1321.5 | 0.51 |
| Number of rosettes with ants | 0.3 ± 0.6 | 0.5 ± 0.6 | 1196.0 | 0.15 |
| Number of young rosettes | 1.0 ± 0.8 | 1.1 ± 1.0 | 1377.5 | 0.77 |
| Number of adult rosettes | 0.5 ± 0.7 | 0.5 ± 0.7 | 1363.0 | 0.70 |
| Number of senescent rosettes | 0.4 ± 0.8 | 0.6 ± 1.0 | 1260.0 | 0.30 |
| Height of young rosettes (cm) | 20.9 ± 8.2 | 17.5 ± 8.9 | 603.5 | <0.05 |
| Height of adult rosettes (cm) | 33.5 ± 6.8 | 34.9 ± 6.8 | 201.5 | 0.67 |
| Height of senescent rosettes (cm) | 26.8 ± 7.8 | 30.9 ± 5.1 | 90.5 | 0.25 |
χ 2 values indicating the effect of forest subunit, phorophyte species (nested in the forest subunit) and the distance to the myrmecophyte Tillandsia caput-medusae on the remotion of seeds of four Tillandsia species. ns = non significant, *P < 0.05, **P < 0.001, ***P < 0.0001.
| Source of variation |
|
|
|
|
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Forest subunit | 69.9*** | 144.3*** | 18.6*** | 75.6*** |
| Phorophyte (forest subunit) | 43.0*** | 64.2*** | 18.2** | 30.3*** |
| Distance | 0.2ns | 8.2* | 1.8ns | 11.3** |
Figure 2.Seed remotion of four Tillandsia species (A, B, C, and D) in tropical dry forest developed on limestone (Limestone) and lava-rock (Lava). Lines of dispersion are the 95 % confidence interval for binomial variables. Inside each graph, different letters indicate a significant difference between the proportions.
Figure 3.Seed remotion of four species of Tillandsia (A, B, C, and D) in the phorophytes Bursera copallifera (Bc), B. fagaroides (Bf), Ipomoea pauciflora (Ip) and Sapium macrocarpum (Sm) in tropical dry forest developed on limestone (Lim) and lava-rock (Lava). Lines of dispersion are the 95 % confidence interval for binomial variables. Inside each graph, different letters indicate a significant difference between the proportions.