Plant lock and ant key: pairwise coevolution of an exclusion filter in an ant–plant mutualism

Brouat, Carine; Garcia, Nelly; Andary, Claude; McKey, Doyle

doi:10.1098/rspb.2001.1763

Cited by 67 publications

(70 citation statements)

References 30 publications

(45 reference statements)

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“…These domatia are hollow structures that can be localized on the trunk, petiole, stipules or leaf blade. In addition, the settlement of certain myrmecophytes requires drilling of the entry of domatia on the part of the ants [3,8].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Myrmecofauna Fruit Trees Infected by Loranthaceae Orchards Lokomo (East Cameroon)

Dibong¹,

Mony²,

Jrn.³

et al. 2012

PLANT

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The objective of this study was to identify the myrmecofauna fruit trees infected by Loranthaceae orchards Lokomo (East Cameroon). The collection and identification of myrmecofauna was made on an area of 5 ha. The work was conducted from October to December 2010. The orchards consist of a mixture of exotic ornemental trees, fruit trees for consumption and forest species deliberately left in place. Woody species hosts concerned were Albizia adianthifolia, Calliandra susinamensis, Citrus maxima, Entandrophragma cylindricum, Psidium guajava, Macaranga hurifolia, Phyllanthus discoides and Terminalia mantaly. A total of seven ant species grouped in six genera and two subfamilies (Formicinae and Myrmicinae) were identified. In Formicinae, two genera have been identified, Camponotus and Oecophylla. Myrmicinae in turn had three genera, Atopomyrmex, Crematogaster and Tetramorium. The activity of myrmecophilous revealed that ants forage on flowers, fruits and suckers of T. ogowensis and T. preussii. The suckers dried out and degenerated causing the death of the tufts.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Myrmecofauna Fruit Trees Infected by Loranthaceae Orchards Lokomo (East Cameroon)

Dibong¹,

Mony²,

Jrn.³

et al. 2012

PLANT

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“…most plantpollinator and plant -seed disperser interactions), reciprocal partner specialization is often found in intimate mutualisms, such as those between myrmecophytic plants and their resident ants (Davidson & McKey 1993;Heil & McKey 2003;Guimarães et al 2007), ants/termites and their cultivated fungi (Mueller et al 1998;Aanen et al 2002;Currie et al 2003) or various invertebrates and their endosymbiotic micro-organisms (Moran & Telang 1998;Hosokawa et al 2006). Both ultimate and proximate causes of specialization have been proposed, including selection for elimination of less-cooperative partners (Heil et al 2005;Poulsen & Boomsma 2005) and chemical or physical mechanisms of partner discrimination (Federle et al 1997;Brouat et al 2001;Edwards et al 2006;Grangier et al 2009). However, the general understanding of the evolutionary conditions favouring specialization in mutualisms is still very limited (Thompson 1994(Thompson , 2005, and modern molecular approaches continue to refine our view of how mutualists are associated with one another on both local and broad geographical scales (Molbo et al 2003;Mikheyev et al 2006;Quek et al 2007;Visser et al 2009).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Mutualism favours higher host specificity than does antagonism in plant–herbivore interaction

et al. 2010

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Coevolved mutualisms often exhibit high levels of partner specificity. Obligate pollination mutualisms, such as the fig -fig wasp and yucca -yucca moth systems, represent remarkable examples of such highly species-specific associations; however, the evolutionary processes underlying these patterns are poorly understood. The prevailing hypothesis suggests that the high degree of specificity in pollinating seed parasites is the fortuitous result of specialization in their ancestors because these insects are derived from endophytic herbivores that are themselves highly host-specific. Conversely, we show that in the Glochidion -Epicephala obligate pollination mutualism, pollinators are more host-specific than are closely related endophytic leaf-feeding taxa, which co-occur with Epicephala on the same Glochidion hosts. This difference is probably not because of shifts in larval diet (i.e. from leaf-to seed-feeding), because seed-eating lepidopterans other than Epicephala do not show the same degree of host specificity as Epicephala. Species of a tentative sister group of Epicephala each attack several distantly related plants, suggesting that the evolution of strict host specificity is tied to the evolution of pollinator habit. These results suggest that mutualists can attain higher host specificity than that of their parasitic ancestors and that coevolutionary selection can be a strong promoter of extreme reciprocal specialization in mutualisms.

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“…A diversity of plant structures that act as exclusion filters in ant-plant symbioses have been reported (Davidson et al 1989, Federle et al 1997, Yu & Davidson 1997, Quek et al 2004. In African Leonardoxa (Brouat et al 2001) and some Asian Macaranga (Quek et al 2004), variations in size and shape of the entrance of domatia act as a filter that limits the access of some ant species. Nevertheless, such physical structures are not ubiquitous and, in at least one case (Grangier et al 2009) do not prevent plant colonization by generalist ants.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Recognition of Host Plant Volatiles by Pheidole minutula Mayr (Myrmicinae), an Amazonian Ant‐Plant Specialist

Dáttilo¹,

Izzo²,

Inouye³

et al. 2009

Biotropica

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In the tropics, several ant species are obligate inhabitants of leaf pouches and other specialized structures in plants known as myrmecophytes. However, the cues used by ant queens to locate suitable host-plants following dispersal remain poorly understood. Here we tested the hypothesis that Pheidole minutula queens use volatiles to distinguish their host Maieta guianensis (Melastomataceae) from other sympatric myrmecophytes. To do so, we used a Y-tube olfactometer to quantify the preference for volatiles of different plant species. Our results indicate that P. minutula queens discriminate the chemical volatiles produced by its host-plant from those of other sympatric ant-plant species. However, queens failed to distinguish the volatiles of Maieta from those of the ant-plant Tococa bullifera (Melastomataceae), with which P. minutula is not mutualistically associated. Nevertheless, a strong preference for Maieta over Tococa was observed during a subsequent bioassay, where the ants had physical contact with a domatium of each plant species. These results suggest that additional, short distance mechanisms are also necessary for host discrimination. Overall, our findings suggest that the high degree of compartmentalization observed in symbiotic ant-plant relationships is achieved, at least in part, by the relatively high degree of specificity in host selection displayed by foundress queens.Abstract in Portugese is available at http://www.blackwell-synergy.com/loi/btp.

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Plant lock and ant key: pairwise coevolution of an exclusion filter in an ant–plant mutualism

Cited by 67 publications

References 30 publications

Myrmecofauna Fruit Trees Infected by Loranthaceae Orchards Lokomo (East Cameroon)

Myrmecofauna Fruit Trees Infected by Loranthaceae Orchards Lokomo (East Cameroon)

Mutualism favours higher host specificity than does antagonism in plant–herbivore interaction

Recognition of Host Plant Volatiles by Pheidole minutula Mayr (Myrmicinae), an Amazonian Ant‐Plant Specialist

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