Skip to main content

Advertisement

SpringerLink
Log in

Variation in the composition and activity of ants on defense of host plant Turnera subulata (Turneraceae): strong response to simulated herbivore attacks and to herbivore’s baits

  • Original Paper
  • Published:
Arthropod-Plant Interactions Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Plants with extrafloral nectaries attract a variety of ant species, in associations commonly considered mutualistic. However, the results of such interactions can be context dependent. Turnera subulata is a shrub widely distributed among disturbed areas which has extrafloral nectaries at the base of leaves. Here, we evaluated whether the ants associated with T. subulata (i) vary in space and/or time; (ii) respond to simulated herbivory, and (iii) reduce herbivory rates. For this, we quantified the abundance and species richness of ants associated with T. subulata throughout the day in six different sites and the defensive capability of these ants under simulated herbivory in the leaves and stems of T. subulata plants (N = 60). We also checked the proportion of the lost leaf area and quantified leaf damage by chewing herbivores in the host plant. We found that a total of 21 ant species associated with the host plant. Species composition showed significant variation across the sampled sites and throughout the day. Visitation rates and predation by ants were higher in plant stems than in leaves. In general, herbivory rates were not correlated with ant association or activity, with the exception of the proportion of leaf area consumed; there was a significant lower herbivory rate on plants in which ants defended the leaves. Our results suggest that the benefits of association may depend on the ecological context. This context dependence may mask the correlation between the defense of ants and herbivory rates.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4
Fig. 5

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Arbo MM (2005) Estudios sistemáticos en Turnera (Turneraceae). III Series Anomalae y Turnera. Bonplandia 14:115–318

    Google Scholar 

  • Arbo MM (2013) Turneraceae. In: Prata AP, Amaral MC, Farias MC, Alves MV (eds) Flora de Sergipe, pp 533–459

  • Assunção MA, Torezan-Silingardi HM, Del-Claro K (2014) Do ant visitors to extrafloral nectaries of plants repel pollinators and cause an indirect cost of mutualism? Flora Morphol Distrib Funct Ecol Plants 209:244–249. doi:10.1016/j.flora.2014.03.003

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Baroni-Urbani C, Andrade ML (2007) The ant tribe Dacetini: limits and constituent genera, with descriptions of new species (Hymenoptera, Formicidae). Ann del Mus Civ di Stor Nat “Giacomo Doria” 95:1–191

    Google Scholar 

  • Bolton B (2003) Synopsis and classification of Formicidae. Mem Am Entomol Inst 71:1–370

    Google Scholar 

  • Bronstein JL (1994) Conditional outcomes in mutualistic interactions. Trends Ecol Evol 9:214–217

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Bronstein JL (2009) The evolution of facilitation and mutualism. J Ecol 97:1160–1170. doi:10.1111/j.1365-2745.2009.01566.x

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Brown WL Jr (2000) Ants. Standard methods for measuring and monitoring biodiversity. In: Agosti D, Majer J, Alonso LE, Schultz TR (eds) Ants. Standard methods for measuring and monitoring biodiversity. Smithsonia, Washington, pp 45–79

    Google Scholar 

  • Byk J, Del-Claro K (2011) Ant-plant interaction in the Neotropical savanna: direct beneficial effects of extrafloral nectar on ant colony fitness. Popul Ecol 53:327–332. doi:10.1007/s10144-010-0240-7

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Chamberland SA, Holland JN (2009) Quantitative synthesis of context dependency in ant-plant protection mutualisms. Ecology 90:2384–2392

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cocroft RB, Rodrigues RL (2005) The behavioral ecology of insect vibrational communication. Bioscience 55:323–334

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cuautle M, Rico-gray V, Diaz-castelazo C (2005) Effects of ant behaviour and presence of extrafloral nectaries on seed dispersal of the Neotropical myrmecochore Turnera ulmifolia L. (Turneraceae). Biol J Linn Soc 86:67–77

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dejean A, Grangier J, Leroy C (2009) Predation and aggressiveness in host plant protection: a generalization using ants from the genus Azteca. Naturwissenschaften 96:57–63. doi:10.1007/s00114-008-0448-y

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Di Gusto B, Anstett GM, Dounias E, McKey DB (2001) Variation in the effectiveness of biotic defence: the case of an opportunistic ant-plant protection mutualism. Oecologia 129:367–375. doi:10.1007/s004420100734

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dicke M, Van Beek TA, Posthumus MA et al (1990) Isolation and identification of volatile kairomone that affects acarine predator-prey interactions. Involvement of host plant in its production. J Chem Ecol 16:381–396

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Geange SW, Pledger S, Burns KC, Shima JS (2011) A unified analysis of niche overlap incorporating data of different types. Methods Ecol Evol 2:175–184. doi:10.1111/j.2041-210X.2010.00070.x

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Heil M (2008) Indirect defence via tritrophic interactions. New Phytol 178:41–61

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Heil M (2011) Nectar: generation, regulation and ecological functions. Trends Plant Sci 16:191–200. doi:10.1016/j.tplants.2011.01.003

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Heil M, Mckey D (2003) Protective ant-plant interactions as models system in ecological and evolutionary research. Annu Rev Ecol Evol Syst 34:425–453. doi:10.1146/annurev.ecolsys.34.011802.132410

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Herms DA, Nielsen DG, Sydnor DT (1990) Comparison of two methods for sampling arboreal insect populations. J Econ Entomol 83:869–874

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kessler A, Baldwin IT (2001) Defensive function of herbivore-induced plant volatile emissions in nature. Science 291:2141–2145

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Moreira VSS, Del-Claro K (2005) The Outcomes of an ant-treehopper association on Solanum lycocarpum St. Hill: increased membracid fecundity and reduced damage by chewing herbivores. Neotrop Entomol 34:881–887

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ness JH (2006) A mutualism’s indirect costs: the most aggressive plant bodyguards also deter pollinators. Oikos 113:506–514

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Oliveira PS, Brandão CRF (1991) Ant-plant interactions. In: Cutle DF, Huxley CR (eds) Ant-plant interactions. Oxford University Press, Oxford, p 601

    Google Scholar 

  • Oliveira PS, Oliveira Filho AT, Cintra R (1987) Ant foraging on ant-inhabited Triplaris (Polygonaceae) in western Brazil: a field experiment using live termite-baits. J Trop Ecol 3:193–200. doi:10.1017/S0266467400002066

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Paré PW, Tumlinson JH (1997) Induced synthesis of plant volatiles. Nature 385:30–31. doi:10.1038/385030a0

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pfannenstiel RS, Hunt RE, Yeargan KV (1995) Orientation of a hemipteran predator to vibrations produced by feeding caterpillars. J Insect Behav 8:1–9

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Piacente S, Camargo E, Zampelli A et al (2002) Flavonoids and arbutin from Turnera diffusa. Z Naturforsch C 57:983–985

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Prado L, Vicente R, Silva T, Souza J (2016) Strumigenys fairchildi Brown, 1961 (Formicidae, Myrmicinae): first record of this rarely collected ant from Brazil. Check List 12:1922

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • R Development Core Team (2011) R: a language and environment for statistical computing

  • Rico-Gray V, Oliveira PS (2007) The ecology and evolution of ant-plant interactions. University of Chicago Press, Chicago

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Salazar-Rojas B, Rico-Gray V, Canto A, Cuautle M (2012) Seed fate in the myrmecochorous Neotropical plant Turnera ulmifolia L., from plant to germination. Acta Oecol 40:1–10

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Stanton ML, Palmer TM (2011) The high cost of mutualism: effects of four species of East African ant symbionts on their myrmecophyte host tree. Ecology 92:1073–1082

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Strauss SY, Zangerl AR (2002) No Title. In: Herrera CM, Olle P (eds) Plant animal interactions: an evolutionary approach, pp 77–106

  • Torres-Hernández L, Rico-Gray V, Guevara CC, Vergara JA (2000) Effect of nectar-foraging ants and wasps on the reproductive fitness of Turnera ulmifolis (Turneraceae) in a coastal sand dune in Mexico. Acta Zool Mex 21:13–21

    Google Scholar 

  • Turlings TCJ, Loughrin JH, McCall PJ et al (1995) How caterpillar-damaged plants protect themselves by attracting. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA. doi:10.1073/pnas.92.10.4169

    Google Scholar 

  • Wilson EO (1971) The insects societies, 1971. Belknap Press, Cambridge, MA

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

The authors thank the colleagues of the Clínica Fitossanitária (UFS) for their help in the field, and the two anonymous referees for their valuable contributions. CNPq funded this research granting aid to LB and APAA (PQ 306923/2012-2 and 484823/2013-2, respectively). PFC received a postdoctoral scholarship (CNPq/FAPITEC-SE 302 246/2014-2). NGC and CSA received master’s scholarships (CAPES).

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Programa de Pós-Graduação em Ecologia e Conservação, Universidade Federal de Sergipe, São Cristovão, SE, Brazil

    Nayara G. Cruz & Camilla S. Almeida

  2. Laboratório de Interações Ecológicas, Departamento de Ecologia, Universidade Federal de Sergipe, São Cristovão, SE, Brazil

    Paulo F. Cristaldo, Efrem J. M. Ribeiro & Ana P. A. Araújo

  3. Clínica Fitossanitária, Departamento de Engenharia Agronômica, Universidade Federal de Sergipe, São Cristovão, SE, Brazil

    Paulo F. Cristaldo, Leandro Bacci, Alisson S. Santana, Alexandre P. Oliveira & Abraão A. Santos

  4. Universidade Federal do Paraná, Curitiba, PR, Brazil

    Gabriela P. Camacho

Authors
  1. Nayara G. Cruz
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Paulo F. Cristaldo
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Leandro Bacci
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Camilla S. Almeida
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. Gabriela P. Camacho
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  6. Alisson S. Santana
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  7. Efrem J. M. Ribeiro
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  8. Alexandre P. Oliveira
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  9. Abraão A. Santos
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  10. Ana P. A. Araújo
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Ana P. A. Araújo.

Additional information

Handling Editor: Jouni Sorvari.

Electronic supplementary material

Below is the link to the electronic supplementary material.

Supplementary material 1 (DOCX 15 kb)

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Cruz, N.G., Cristaldo, P.F., Bacci, L. et al. Variation in the composition and activity of ants on defense of host plant Turnera subulata (Turneraceae): strong response to simulated herbivore attacks and to herbivore’s baits. Arthropod-Plant Interactions 12, 113–121 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11829-017-9559-8

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11829-017-9559-8

Keywords

Search

Navigation