Interactions Involving Plants, Homoptera, and Ants

Buckley, Ralf

doi:10.1146/annurev.es.18.110187.000551

Cited by 306 publications

(152 citation statements)

References 148 publications

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“…Honeydew is a sugary excretion of carbohydrates, amino acids and water derived from plant phloem upon which many hemipterans feed (Way 1963). Ants are attracted to honeydew as a predictable, renewable food resource and, consequently, 'tend' honeydew-producing hemipterans, protecting them from predators and parasitoids (Way 1963;Buckley 1987).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Ant-hemipteran mutualisms are very common, if not well appreciated, interactions in terrestrial communities from temperate to tropical latitudes (Buckley 1987;Hölldobler & Wilson 1990;Delabie 2001). Ants tend honeydew-producing hemipterans on an extremely wide range of plants, including grasses (e.g.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The interactions between ants and honeydew-producing hemipterans are also very common in managed (e.g. agricultural) habitats in addition to being widespread in natural habitats from grasslands to forests (Buckley 1987;Way & Khoo 1992).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Increased ant predation of other herbivores (including hemipteran insects that do not feed from plant phloem or produce honeydew) may benefit plants if those herbivores impose a greater cost to plant growth and reproduction than do the ant-tended hemipterans (Buckley 1987;Way & Khoo 1992;Delabie 2001). In contrast, by protecting hemipterans from predators and parasitoids, and by stimulating hemipteran feeding rate, fecundity and dispersal, tending ants may exacerbate the negative effects of honeydew-producing hemipterans on plants, including stunted growth, reduced leaf area and the introduction of plant pathogens, all of which can decrease plant fitness (Way 1963;Beattie 1985;Buckley 1987;Delabie 2001). Thus, the consequences of ant-hemipteran interactions on plant fitness should represent a trade-off between the indirect benefit of increased ant suppression of other herbivores and the direct cost of herbivory by ant-tended hemipterans (Carroll & Janzen 1973;Buckley 1987;Lach 2003;figure 1a,b).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The ecological consequences of ant-hemipteran interactions have been discussed by several other authors (e.g. Beattie 1985;Buckley 1987;Way & Khoo 1992;Lach 2003), but our review provides the first comprehensive summary and synthesis of all published data. The two important points that we emphasize are how relatively few studies have actually quantified the effects of ant-hemipteran interactions and how specific design problems common to the majority of the studies weaken their conclusions.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Ecological consequences of interactions between ants and honeydew-producing insects

2006

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Interactions between ants and honeydew-producing hemipteran insects are abundant and widespread in arthropod food webs, yet their ecological consequences are very poorly known. Ant–hemipteran interactions have potentially broad ecological effects, because the presence of honeydew-producing hemipterans dramatically alters the abundance and predatory behaviour of ants on plants. We review several studies that investigate the consequences of ant–hemipteran interactions as ‘keystone interactions’ on arthropod communities and their host plants. Ant–hemipteran interactions have mostly negative effects on the local abundance and species richness of several guilds of herbivores and predators. In contrast, out of the 30 studies that document the effects of ant–hemipteran interactions on plants, the majority (73%) shows that plants actually benefit indirectly from these interactions. In these studies, increased predation or harassment of other, more damaging, herbivores by hemipteran-tending ants resulted in decreased plant damage and/or increased plant growth and reproduction. The ecological consequences of mutualistic interactions between honeydew-producing hemipterans and invasive ants relative to native ants have rarely been studied, but they may be of particular importance owing to the greater abundance, aggressiveness and extreme omnivory of invasive ants. We argue that ant–hemipteran interactions are largely overlooked and underappreciated interspecific interactions that have strong and pervasive effects on the communities in which they are embedded.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Ecological consequences of interactions between ants and honeydew-producing insects

2006

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Informationsfluss und Informationsverarbeitung in Ökologischen Systemen

Zwölfer

Völkl

2004

Handbuch Der Umweltwissenschaften

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Cascading trait‐mediated interactions induced by ant pheromones

Hsieh

Liere

Soto³

et al. 2012

Ecology and Evolution

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Trait-mediated indirect interactions (TMII) can be as important as density-mediated indirect interactions. Here, we provide evidence for a novel trait-mediated cascade (where one TMII affects another TMII) and demonstrate that the mechanism consists of a predator eavesdropping on chemical signaling. Ants protect scale insects from predation by adult coccinellid beetles – the first TMII. However, parasitic phorid flies reduce ant foraging activity by 50% – the second TMII, providing a window of opportunity for female beetles to oviposit in high-quality microsites. Beetle larvae are protected from ant predation and benefit from living in patches with high scale densities. We demonstrate that female beetles can detect pheromones released by the ant when attacked by phorids, and that only females, and especially gravid females, are attracted to the ant pheromone. As ants reduce their movement when under attack by phorids, we conclude that phorids facilitate beetle oviposition, thus producing the TMII cascade.

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Interactions Involving Plants, Homoptera, and Ants

Cited by 306 publications

References 148 publications

Ecological consequences of interactions between ants and honeydew-producing insects

Ecological consequences of interactions between ants and honeydew-producing insects

Informationsfluss und Informationsverarbeitung in Ökologischen Systemen

Cascading trait‐mediated interactions induced by ant pheromones

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