Nectariless Cotton: Effect on Cotton Leafperforator and Other Cotton Insects in Arizona12

Henneberry, T. J.; Bariola, L. A.; Kittock, D. L.

doi:10.1093/jee/70.6.797

Cited by 16 publications

(16 citation statements)

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“…Similarly, in agricultural fields with few ants, cultivated cotton varieties bearing extrafloral nectaries often attract more insect herbivores and herbivory as compared with nectary-free varieties (e.g. Henneberry et al 1977;Adjei-Maafo et al 1983). Despite the increased herbivory on wild cotton plants with extrafloral nectar in the absence of ants, this ecological cost did not affect plant fitness during the years of this study.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 66%

A selection mosaic in the facultative mutualism between ants and wild cotton

Rudgers

Strauss

2004

Proc. R. Soc. Lond. B

128

133

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In protection mutualisms, one mutualist defends its partner against a natural enemy in exchange for a reward, usually food or shelter. For both partners, the costs and benefits of these interactions often vary considerably in space because the outcome (positive, negative or neutral) depends on the local abundance of at least three species: the protector, the beneficiary of protection and the beneficiary's natural enemy. In Gossypium thurberi (wild cotton), ants benefit nutritionally from the plant's extrafloral nectaries and guard plants from herbivores. Experimentally altering the availability of both ants and extrafloral nectar in three populations demonstrated that the mutualism is facultative, depending, in part, on the abundance of ants and the level of herbivore damage. The species composition of ants and a parasitic alga that clogs extrafloral nectaries were also implicated in altering the outcome of plant-ant interactions. Furthermore, experimental treatments that excluded ants (the putative selective agents) in combination with phenotypic selection analyses revealed that selection on extrafloral nectary traits was mediated by ants and, importantly, varied across populations. This work is some of the first to manipulate interactions experimentally across multiple sites and thereby document that geographically variable selection, mediated by a mutualist, can shape the evolution of plant traits.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 66%

A selection mosaic in the facultative mutualism between ants and wild cotton

Rudgers

Strauss

2004

Proc. R. Soc. Lond. B

128

133

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“…Flowering begins in early September, and plants typically yield mature fruits and drop their leaves by mid-December. Many Gossypium species (including G. thurberi) bear extrafloral nectaries that attract arthropods, such as predaceous ants (e.g., Henneberry et al 1977;Rudgers 2002). In G. thurberi, extrafloral nectaries occur singly on the undersides of leaves and also beneath the bracts (Fryxell 1979).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Behavioral mechanisms underlie an ant-plant mutualism

2003

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Predators can reduce herbivory by consuming herbivores (a consumptive effect) and by altering herbivore behavior, life history, physiology or distribution (non-consumptive effects). The non-consumptive, or trait-mediated, effects of predators on prey may have important functions in the dynamics of communities. In a facultative ant-plant mutualism, we investigated whether these non-consumptive effects influenced the host plants of prey. Here, predaceous ants (Forelius pruinosus) consume and disturb a dominant lepidopteran folivore (Bucculatrix thurberiella) of wild cotton plants (Gossypium thurberi). Season-long ant exclusion experiments revealed that ants had a larger proportional effect on damage by B. thurberiella than on caterpillar abundance, a result that suggests ants have a strong non-consumptive effect. Behavioral experiments conducted in two populations over 2 years demonstrated that B. thurberiella caterpillars were substantially less likely to damage wild cotton leaves in the presence of ants due to ant-induced changes in caterpillar behavior. In the absence of ants caterpillars spent more time stationary (potential feeding time) and less time dropping from leaves by a thread of silk than when ants were present. Furthermore, ants altered the spatial distribution of both caterpillars and damage; caterpillars spent relatively more time on the upper surfaces of leaves and caused damage further from the leaf margin in ant exclusion treatments. Both direct encounters with ants and information conveyed when ants walked onto leaves were key events leading to the anti-predator behaviors of caterpillars. This study contributes to a small body of evidence from terrestrial systems demonstrating that the trait-mediated effects of predators can cascade to the host plants of prey.

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“…In fact, cotton cultivars lacking EFNs have been created via hybridization because cotton with EFNs often experiences increased herbivory (Meyer and Meyer 1961). For example, adult B. thurberiella survived longer on cotton cultivars with EFNs than on cultivars without EFNs (Benschoter and Leal 1974), and fewer B. thurberiella as well as less caterpillar damage occurred in plots of nectariless cotton than in plots of nectaried cotton (Henneberry et al 1977). Additionally, both oviposition by adult soybean loopers and unspecified fruit damage was greater on cotton that had EFNs (Adjei-Maafo et al 1983, Beach et al 1985.…”

Section: Trade-offs Between Attracting Ants and Attracting Herbivoresmentioning

confidence: 99%

Enemies of Herbivores Can Shape Plant Traits: Selection in a Facultative Ant–plant Mutualism

Rudgers

2004

Ecology

133

149

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Predators and parasitoids of herbivores can play important roles in plant defense. Plant traits that attract the enemies of herbivores are presumed to have co‐evolved with these enemies in obligate relationships such as ant–Acacia mutualisms. In facultative interactions, selection via herbivores' enemies also may shape plant traits, although no study has yet demonstrated all of the necessary criteria to document selection in a single tri‐trophic system. Using manipulative experiments during a two‐year study, I showed that predatory ants can act as agents of selection on extrafloral nectary (EFN) traits. Wild cotton (Gossypium thurberi) EFNs attract a number of generalist ant species that consume and disturb herbivores. Sire–offspring regression analyses demonstrated that both the proportion of leaves with EFNs and EFN size exhibit heritable variation in G. thurberi. A two‐year insecticide experiment revealed that herbivory reduced plant growth and seed production in the field, independently of the effects of ants. Both ant abundance and EFN availability were manipulated in the field using a 2 × 2 factorial design. When ant visitation was reduced, plants supported more herbivores, experienced greater leaf damage, and produced fewer flowers and seeds. Furthermore, fewer ants visited plants with experimentally reduced EFNs; leaf damage was higher and seed number was lower compared to plants with ambient levels of EFN, indicating that EFNs mediate the benefits of ants. In addition, natural variation in EFN frequency correlated positively with seed production. This study provides the strongest support yet that casual ant associates can influence the evolution of extrafloral nectary traits and suggests that plant evolution in facultative mutualisms depends on community‐level dynamics.

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Nectariless Cotton: Effect on Cotton Leafperforator and Other Cotton Insects in Arizona12

Cited by 16 publications

References 0 publications

A selection mosaic in the facultative mutualism between ants and wild cotton

A selection mosaic in the facultative mutualism between ants and wild cotton

Behavioral mechanisms underlie an ant-plant mutualism

Enemies of Herbivores Can Shape Plant Traits: Selection in a Facultative Ant–plant Mutualism

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