Predatory and trophobiont-tending ants respond differently to fig and fig wasp volatiles

Ranganathan, Yuvaraj; Borges, Renée M.

doi:10.1016/j.anbehav.2009.03.010

Cited by 32 publications

(40 citation statements)

References 52 publications

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“…For instance, the presence during the emergence phase of numerous fig wasps on fig surfaces often attracts various arthropod predators such as mantids, spiders, and predatory beetles (Bronstein 1988;Zachariades 1994;Zachariades et al 2009 (Bronstein 1988;Compton and Robertson 1988;Schatz et al 2008). Ants are particularly efficient in the capture of fig wasps, detecting the odor they emit, and exhibiting olfactory learning (Schatz et al 2003, Ranganathan andBorges 2009;Schatz and Hossaert-McKey 2010). Moreover, as fig odors change with time (Proffit et al 2008), some ants are also able to learn the specific odor associated with developmental phases when the probability of the presence of fig wasps is higher, and to modulate their presence and their aggressiveness using these olfactory cues (Schatz and Hossaert-McKey 2010).…”

Section: Nursery Pollination Mutualisms As Network Of Biodiversitymentioning

confidence: 99%

Floral scents: their roles in nursery pollination mutualisms

et al. 2010

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Mutualisms are interspecies interactions in which each participant gains net benefits from interacting with its partner. In nursery pollination mutualisms, pollinators reproduce within the inflorescence they pollinate. In these systems, each partner depends directly on the other for its reproduction. Therefore, the signal responsible for partner encounter is crucial in these horizontally transmitted mutualisms, in which the association between specific partners must be renewed at each generation. As in many other interspecies interactions, chemical signals are suspected to be important in the functioning of these mutualisms. We synthesized and compared the published data available on the role of floral scents in the functioning of the 16 known independently evolved nursery pollination mutualisms. So far, attraction of pollinators to their specific hosts has been investigated in only seven of these systems, and the majority of the studies have been conducted on one of them, fig/fig wasp interactions. While such unevenness of the information limits the potential for meta-analysis, some patterns emerge from this review concerning the role of flower volatiles in maintaining the specificity of pollinator attraction, in signaling the appropriate phenological stage for pollinator visit, in attracting the pollinator toward the rewardless sex in dioecious plant species and in aiding the location and exploitation of resources by parasites and predators associated with these mutualisms. Finally, we highlight new perspectives on the evolution of signals in these diversified systems depending on the age and the degree of specificity of the interaction, and on the effect of phylogenetic inertia on the evolutionary dynamics of plant signals.

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Section: Nursery Pollination Mutualisms As Network Of Biodiversitymentioning

confidence: 99%

Floral scents: their roles in nursery pollination mutualisms

et al. 2010

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“…In F. carica, F. fistulosa and F. racemosa ants learned to use the volatile organic compounds emitted by figs during the receptive and wasp emergence periods, which led to high predation rates on pollinating wasps (Fig. 2h, Schatz et al, , 2006Ranganathan and Borges, 2009;Schatz and Hossaert-McKey, 2010;HossaertMcKey et al, 2010), and the volatile chemicals emitted by the pollinators and NPFWs themselves are detected by at least two species of ants on F. fistulosa . Primary seed dispersal by birds, bats, small mammals and primates (Kalko et al, 1996;Hodgkison et al, 2007;Borges et al, 2008;Soler, 2010) and secondary dispersal by ants (Kaufmann et al, 1991) is likely to be mediated by olfactory compounds originating from the mature figs and the elaiosome of seeds, respectively.…”

Section: Chemical Mediation Of Antefig Interactionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Primary seed dispersal by birds, bats, small mammals and primates (Kalko et al, 1996;Hodgkison et al, 2007;Borges et al, 2008;Soler, 2010) and secondary dispersal by ants (Kaufmann et al, 1991) is likely to be mediated by olfactory compounds originating from the mature figs and the elaiosome of seeds, respectively. Investigations in chemical ecology promise to reveal how insect species interact in the complex communities supported by figs Ranganathan and Borges, 2009;Schatz and Hossaert-McKey, 2010;Hossaert-McKey et al, 2010). Fig pollinators tend to enter receptive syconia quickly and their offspring emerge from mature syconia rapidly, limiting the opportunity for ants to prey on them.…”

Section: Chemical Mediation Of Antefig Interactionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

How to be an ant on figs

2014

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“…Ants associated with plants as herbivores, seed predators or seed dispersers use plant secondary compounds (Cherrett and Seaforth, 1970;Saverschek et al, 2010), plant nutrients (Marshall et al, 1979;Skidmore and Heithaus, 1988) or other chemical features of their mutualistic partners (Ghazoul, 2001;Pierce et al, 2002;Stadler and Dixon, 2005;Choe and Rust, 2006;Youngsteadt et al, 2008;Willmer et al, 2009;Hojo et al, 2014) as recognition, feedant or anti-feedant cues. Predatory ants that feed on plant-associated insect prey may use volatile, plant-derived compounds to obtain information about the location and type of insect prey available on plant resources (Ranganathan and Borges, 2009;Schatz and Hossaert-McKey, 2010). However, such predatory ants feeding on insects associated with plants may also use less volatile chemicals such as insect cuticular hydrocarbons (CHCs) as feedant cues since CHCs often play an important role in insect predatoreprey relationships (Espelie et al, 1991).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%