Carbohydrate as Fuel for Foraging, Resource Defense and Colony Growth – a Long‐term Experiment with the Plant‐ant <i>Crematogaster nigriceps</i>

Rudolph, Kathleen P.; Palmer, Todd M.

doi:10.1111/btp.12040

Cited by 16 publications

(13 citation statements)

References 48 publications

(108 reference statements)

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“…Although carbohydrates are an important driver of ant foraging (Rudolph & Palmer, ) and aggressiveness (Grover, Kay, Monson, Marsh, & Holway, ), evidence from our study and from the literature (see Blüthgen & Fiedler, ; Heil, ) suggests that amino acids are important as well. Although in nature extrafloral nectar is never composed of amino acids alone, our results call attention to the importance of this nutrient in driving mutualistic ant behavior.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 48%

Nectar quality affects ant aggressiveness and biotic defense provided to plants

et al. 2019

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Ant–plant mutualisms are useful models for investigating how plant traits mediate interspecific interactions. As plant‐derived resources are essential components of ant diets, plants that offer more nutritious food to ants should be better defended in return, as a result of more aggressive behavior toward natural enemies. We tested this hypothesis in a field experiment by adding artificial nectaries to individuals of the species Vochysia elliptica (Vochysiaceae). Ants were offered one of four liquid foods of different nutritional quality: amino acids, sugar, sugar + amino acids, and water (control). We used live termites (Nasutitermes coxipoensis) as herbivore competitors and observed ant behavior toward them. In 88 hr of observations, we recorded 1,009 interactions with artificial nectaries involving 1,923 individual ants of 26 species. We recorded 381 encounters between ants and termites, of which 38% led to attack. Sixty‐one percent of these attacks led to termite exclusion from the plants. Recruitment and patrolling were highest when ants fed upon nectaries providing sugar + amino acids, the most nutritious food. This increase in recruitment and patrolling led to higher encounter rates between ants and termites, more frequent attacks, and faster and more complete termite removal. Our results are consistent with the hypothesis that plant biotic defense is mediated by resource quality. We highlight the importance of qualitative differences in nectar composition for the outcome of ant–plant interactions. Abstract in Portuguese is available with online material.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 48%

Nectar quality affects ant aggressiveness and biotic defense provided to plants

et al. 2019

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“…Several field studies have also pointed towards a similar pattern. For example, Rudolph and Palmer () found that plant‐ants were more efficient at discovering food sources after a long‐term deprivation of carbohydrate‐producing nectaries. In the ant Formica podzolica , colonies strongly reduced their foraging activity in response to carbohydrate supplementation (Petry et al ., ).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Carbohydrate scarcity increases foraging activities and aggressiveness in the ant Prolasius advenus (Hymenoptera: Formicidae)

Grangier

Lester

2014

Ecological Entomology

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1. Behavioural responses to varying macronutrient availability are increasingly studied in highly invasive ant species to better understand their ecological success. However, such work is lacking in relation to native ant species confronted with biological invaders. 2. Here the link between diet and behaviour was examined in Prolasius advenus, a native ant from New Zealand facing intense competition for food with invasive insects, including social wasps. A long‐term laboratory experiment was conducted to assess the impact of protein and carbohydrate restriction on several behavioural parameters. 3. Ants shifted their food‐collecting activity towards the least available macronutrient in both protein‐limited and carbohydrate‐limited colonies. But when lacking carbohydrate, they also strongly increased their efforts to discover resources. After 10 weeks, the proportion of the colony patrolling outside of the nest was eight times higher than at the initiation of the experiment. This high patrolling activity was then maintained for several weeks and resulted in a higher efficiency to explore a novel territory. Moreover, ants fed a carbohydrate‐limited diet engaged in longer aggressive acts towards conspecifics. 4. These behavioural responses to carbohydrate scarcity may, in part, enhance the ability of P. advenus to resist a competing invader under natural conditions. While much of the previous research has linked diet and behavioural dominance in invasive ants, the present study shows that conducting similar investigations in the native species to which they are confronted may shed light on the mechanisms behind biotic resistance and the ability of some native species to coexist with highly abundant invaders.

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“…Annual precipitation at MRC was 657 ± 194 mm/yr from 1999 to 2013 (mean ± SD; median = 646, interquartile range = 532–817), typically falling in a weakly tri‐modal annual pattern, with a short dry season from December to March; rainfall during the experimental period was ~25% higher than the average annual rainfall (821 mm). Acacia drepanolobium produces hollow swellings at the base of some of its stipular thorns that serve as domatia (housing) for symbiotic ants (Monod and Schmitt , Hocking ), and extrafloral nectaries on the petioles of most leaves secrete carbohydrate‐rich nectar (Rudolph and Palmer ). Trees begin producing domatia and nectar (henceforth “ant rewards”) early in their ontogeny (~3 month old saplings) and continue throughout their lives.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Influence of neighboring plants on the dynamics of an ant–acacia protection mutualism

Palmer

Riginos

Damiani

et al. 2017

Ecology

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Ant-plant protection symbioses, in which plants provide food and/or shelter for ants in exchange for protection from herbivory, are model systems for understanding the ecology of mutualism. While interactions between ants, host plants, and herbivores have been intensively studied, we know little about how plant-plant interactions influence the dynamics of these mutualisms, despite strong evidence that plants compete for resources, that hosting ants can be costly, and that host-plant provisioning to ants can therefore be constrained by resource availability. We used field experiments in a semiarid Kenyan savanna to examine interactions between the ant-plant Acacia drepanolobium, neighboring grasses, and two species of symbiotic acacia-ants with divergent behaviors: Crematogaster mimosae, an aggressive symbiont that imposes high costs to host trees via consumption of extrafloral nectar, and Tetraponera penzigi, a less-protective symbiont that imposes lower costs because it does not consume nectar. We hypothesized that by competing with acacias for resources, neighboring grasses (1) reduce hosts' ability to support costly C. mimosae, while having little or no effect on the ability of hosts to support low-cost T. penzigi, and (2) reduce sapling growth rates irrespective of ant occupant. We factorially manipulated the presence/absence of grasses and the identity of ant occupants on saplings and evaluated effects on colony survivorship and sapling growth rates over 40 weeks. Contrary to prediction, the high-cost/high-reward nectar-dependent mutualist C. mimosae had higher colony-survival rates on saplings with grass neighbors present. Grasses appear to have indirectly facilitated the survival of C. mimosae by reducing water stress on host plants; soils under saplings shaded by grasses had higher moisture content, and these saplings produced more active nectaries than grass-removal saplings. Consistent with prediction, survival of low-cost/low-reward T. penzigi did not differ significantly between grass-removal treatments. Saplings occupied by low-cost/low-reward T. penzigi grew 100% more on average than saplings occupied by high-cost/high-reward C. mimosae, demonstrating that mutualist-partner identity strongly and differentially influences demographic rates of young plants. In contrast, contrary to prediction, grass neighbors had no significant net impact on sapling growth rates. Our results suggest that neighboring plants can exert strong and counterintuitive effects on ant-plant protection symbioses, highlighting the need to integrate plant-plant interactions into our understanding of these mutualisms.

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Carbohydrate as Fuel for Foraging, Resource Defense and Colony Growth – a Long‐term Experiment with the Plant‐ant Crematogaster nigriceps

Cited by 16 publications

References 48 publications

Nectar quality affects ant aggressiveness and biotic defense provided to plants

Nectar quality affects ant aggressiveness and biotic defense provided to plants

Carbohydrate scarcity increases foraging activities and aggressiveness in the ant Prolasius advenus (Hymenoptera: Formicidae)

Influence of neighboring plants on the dynamics of an ant–acacia protection mutualism

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