Ant nests in tank bromeliads — an example of non-specific interaction

Summary:

Four species of epiphytic tank bromeliads on an island in the Orinoco river in Venezuelan Amazonia were inhabited by 13 ant species from four subfamilies. None of these ant species are known as specialised plant-ants. A Monte Carlo randomisation test showed that ants were randomly distributed among host plants: (1) there was no association between particular ant species and bromeliad species, and (2) there was no vertical stratification of the ant community between bromeliads sampled on the ground and at two height classes in trees. This contrasts with the few published data on the distribution of ants on terrestrial myrmecophytes and epiphytes, respectively, to which we applied the same analytical method.