Trade-off in plant-ant interactions: seasonal variations

Abstract

This work evaluated the effect of seasonality on ant-plant interaction in a Seasonally Dry Tropical Forests, using as an ecological model the species Ipomoea carnea subs. fistulosa (Convolvulaceae). We performed systematic collection of ants, herbivores and leaves in marked plants, evaluated the efficiency of herbivorous capture by ants, and the effects of ant presence over the pollinator behavior and plant fitness in dry and rainy seasons. The presence of ants in the plants reduced the number of herbivores (dry season: F2.27=4.7617, p=0.0166; rainy season: F2.27=5.8655, p=0.0078). However, the capture efficiency was negatively affected by the presence of myrmecophilous larvae, so that the average of ants recruited on termite leaves was 2.06 ants per termite, the average recruitment of ants on larval leaves was 22.4 larva ants. In addition, the presence of ants reduced pollinator visits and promoted fruit reduction during the dry season (ANOVA: F = 3.44; p = 0.0653). In conclusion, the association with ants can result in a balance not always favorable to the host plant, and this result actually depends on abiotic (e.g. precipitation) and biotic factors (e.g. ant species composition and abundance, influence of other trophic levels and identity of associated herbivores).

Survey of leaf-cutting ant species in the central region of the state of Tocantins, Brazil

“…Ants (Hymenoptera, Formicidae) are eusocial insects classified into 17 extant subfamilies, 39 extant tribes, and about 17,000 extant species (AntWeb, 2021). They play key roles in different habitats, such as urban and rural areas (Mbenoun Masse et al, 2017;Souza-Campana et al, 2020), forests (Wilkie et al, 2010), and caves (Dáttilo et al, 2012), interacting with many organisms (Sebastiani et al, 2017), acting as ecosystem engineers (Toro et al, 2012;Martins et al, 2020), and, due to their high diversity and abundance, as reliable biological indicators (Choe, 2012;Santos-Silva et al, 2016).…”