Ant distribution patterns in a cameroonian cocoa plantation: investigation of the ant mosaic hypothesis

Jackson, Dorothy A.

doi:10.1007/bf00384263

Cited by 80 publications

(97 citation statements)

References 28 publications

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“…In arboreal ant assemblages, dominant species defend "absolute territories"-discrete spatial units extending beyond the location of individual food or nest resources. This leads to a patchy distribution of ant species across the forest canopy, known as an ant mosaic (Room 1971(Room , 1975Jackson 1984;Dejean et al 2007). Outside forest ecosystems, the arboreal patterns of ant species coexistence and competition are not well documented.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Curious Case of the Camelthorn: Competition, Coexistence, and Nest-Site Limitation in a Multispecies Mutualism

Campbell

Fellowes

Cook

2015

The American Naturalist

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Online enhancement: appendix. Dryad data: http://dx.doi.org/10.5061/dryad.s9f 7c.abstract: Myrmecophyte plants house ants within domatia in exchange for protection against herbivores. Ant-myrmecophyte mutualisms exhibit two general patterns due to competition between ants for plant occupancy: (i) domatia nest sites are a limiting resource and (ii) each individual plant hosts one ant species at a time. However, individual camelthorn trees (Vachellia erioloba) typically host two to four ant species simultaneously, often coexisting in adjacent domatia on the same branch. Such fine-grain spatial coexistence brings into question the conventional wisdom on ant-myrmecophyte mutualisms. Camelthorn ants appear not to be nest-site limited, despite low abundance of suitable domatia, and have random distributions of nest sites within and across trees. These patterns suggest a lack of competition between ants for domatia and contrast strongly with other antmyrmecophyte systems. Comparison of this unusual case with others suggests that spatial scale is crucial to coexistence or competitive exclusion involving multiple ant species. Furthermore, coexistence may be facilitated when co-occurring ant species diverge strongly on at least one niche axis. Our conclusions provide recommendations for future ant-myrmecophyte research, particularly in utilizing multispecies systems to further our understanding of mutualism biology.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Curious Case of the Camelthorn: Competition, Coexistence, and Nest-Site Limitation in a Multispecies Mutualism

Campbell

Fellowes

Cook

2015

The American Naturalist

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“…Given the importance of honeydew as a resource, it is expected and often observed that nutritious trophobioses are defended by ants against competitors and effectively monopolised (Jackson, 1984;Dejean et al, 1997;Blüthgen et al, 2000bWimp and Whitham, 2001;.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Ant-hemipteran trophobioses in a Bornean rainforest – diversity, specificity and monopolisation

2006

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Trophobiotic interactions between ants, hemipterans and plants play an important role for all three partners. This study compared a broad spectrum of trophobiotic associations in a tropical rainforest in Sabah, Borneo. We studied partner specifi city, ant recruitment, temporal continuity and monopolisation in 218 trophobioses, comprising 58 ant species, 62 hemipteran and over 31 plant species. The most common associations involved Dinochloa trichogona (Poaceae) with coreids and delphacids in the forest understorey, and the invasive weed Chromolaena odorata (Asteraceae) with Aphis gossypii and A. spiraeola in the open vegetation; both associations were attended by a broad spectrum of ant species. In general, associations between hemipterans and plants were highly and signifi cantly specialised, while ants were more opportunistic in their choices of partners, although partitioning was also significant between ant versus hemipteran species and consequently between ant versus plant species. The number of ant workers increased signifi cantly, but at a declining rate, with the number of hemipterans at a trophobiosis. Most trophobioses (96 %) were only tended by a single ant species at a time and thus effectively monopolised. Occasionally these guards were replaced by another ant species after a few weeks (11 %) or during the night (34 %). In order to test whether other sugar-seeking ants as potential competitors occurred in the vicinity of trophobioses, sugar baits were placed next to the trophobioses, on a different branch of the same plant, and on a neighbouring plant. While the hemipteran-tending ant colony mostly monopolised the nearest sugar bait, the number of ant species on more distant baits was signifi cantly higher. Our results show that ant associations with honeydew-producing hemipterans may be relatively opportunistic at the community level, but highly predictable on a smaller spatio-temporal scale in respect to recruitment to, and long term securing of this important resource.

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“…Food resources which are predictable in space and time, such as plant affiliated homopterans or nectaries, offer themselves for systematic use and monopolisation since they can be effectively exploited and defended (as is shown in ant mosaics on trees, e. g., Strickland, 1951;Jackson, 1984;Blüthgen et al, 2000). The most systematic and economical resource use has probably been achieved by individual ants specialising on small and clearly defined predictable foraging sites (Lachaud et al, 1984;Fourcassié and Traniello, 1993).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Finding its place in a competitive ant community: leaf fidelity of Camponotus sericeus

Mody

Linsenmair

2003

Insectes Sociaux

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Many species of ground nesting ants regularly visit extrafloral nectaries (EFNs) of the savannah tree Pseudocedrela kotschyi. The distribution of ants on the plants is mosaic-like, i. e. stable and predictable with different ant species dominating neighbouring trees. In order to examine whether foraging behaviour may influence the structure of these ant communities, we investigated individual foraging behaviour of Camponotus sericeus, the ant species with highest incidence on P. kotschyi trees in the study area. Foragers of C. sericeus continuously visited EFNs on the leafs of P. kotschyi during their diurnal activity period. Individually marked foragers showed a pronounced fidelity for individual plants and particular leaves. Ant individuals returned to the same plants over a three week period at least. They persistently focused foraging on the same leaves (about three per ant). Null model analysis of ant distribution revealed that ants partitioned their host plant. Co-occurrence on the same leaves was significantly lower than could be expected by chance for most trees studied. Foraging was not oriented towards the plants growing closest to the nest but more distantly growing plants were considerably used. Choice of plants could therefore be influenced by plant quality or by presence of other, competing ant species. The study is the first to show leaf fidelity caused by EFNs and micro-site fidelity within the context of species rich ant communities. It considers the resulting systematic, partitioned use of individual plants as important factor supporting the formation of a mosaic-like ant distribution on plants.

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Ant distribution patterns in a cameroonian cocoa plantation: investigation of the ant mosaic hypothesis

Cited by 80 publications

References 28 publications

The Curious Case of the Camelthorn: Competition, Coexistence, and Nest-Site Limitation in a Multispecies Mutualism

The Curious Case of the Camelthorn: Competition, Coexistence, and Nest-Site Limitation in a Multispecies Mutualism

Ant-hemipteran trophobioses in a Bornean rainforest – diversity, specificity and monopolisation

Finding its place in a competitive ant community: leaf fidelity of Camponotus sericeus

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