Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Studies of a South East Asian ant-plant association: protection of Macaranga trees by Crematogaster borneensis

  • Original Papers
  • Published:
Oecologia Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Summary

In the humid tropics of SE Asia there are some 14 myrmecophytic species of the pioneer tree genus Macaranga (Euphorbiaceae). In Peninsular Malaysia a close association exists between the trees and the small, non-stinging myrmicine Crematogaster borneensis. These ants feed mainly on food bodies provided by the plants and have their colonies inside the hollow internodes. In a ten months field study we were able to demonstrate for four Macaranga species (M. triloba, M. hypoleuca, M. hosei, M. hulletti) that host plants also benefit considerably from ant-occupation. Ants do not contribute to the nutrient demands of their host plant, they do, however, protect it against herbivores and plant competition. Cleaning behaviour of the ants results in the removal of potential hervivores already in their earliest developmental stages. Strong aggressiveness and a mass recruiting system enable the ants to defend the host plant against many herbivorous insects. This results in a significant decrease in leaf damage due to herbivores on ant-occupied compared to ant-free myrmecophytes as well as compared to non-myrmecophytic Macaranga species. Most important is the ants' defense of the host plant against plant competitors, especially vines, which are abundant in the well-lit pioneer habitats where Macaranga grows. Ants bite off any foreign plant part coming into contact with their host plant. Both ant-free myrmecophytes and non-myrmecophytic Macaranga species had a significantly higher incidence of vine growth than specimens with active ant colonies. This may be a factor of considerable importance allowing Macaranga plants to grow at sites of strongest competition.

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

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Appanah S, Putz FE (1984) Climber abundance in virgin dipterocarp forest and the effect of pre-felling climber cutting on logging damage. Malay For 47:335–342

    Google Scholar 

  • Baker JA (1934) Notes on the biology of Macaranga spp. Gdns' Bull Straits Settl 8:63–68

    Google Scholar 

  • Beattie AJ (1985) The evolutionary ecology of ant-plant mutualisms. Cambridge Univ Press, Cambridge

    Google Scholar 

  • Bentley BL (1977a) Extrafloral nectaries and protection by pugnacious bodyguards. Ann Rev Ecol Syst 8:407–427

    Google Scholar 

  • Bentley BL (1977b) The protective function of ants visiting the extrafloral nectaries of Bixa orellana (Bixaceae). J Ecol 65:27–38

    Google Scholar 

  • Benzing DH (1970) An investigation of two bromeliad myrmecophytes: Tillandsia butzii MEZ., T. caput-medusae E. MORREN and their ants. Bull Torrey Bot Club 97:109–115

    Google Scholar 

  • Blatter E (1928) Myrmecosymbiosis in the Indo-Malayan flora. J Int Bot Soc 7(3–4):176–185

    Google Scholar 

  • Buckley RC (ed) (1982) Ant-plant interactions in Australia. W Junk Publ

  • Coley PD (1983) Hervivory and defensive characteristics of tree species in a lowland tropical forest. Ecol Monogr 53(2):209–233

    Google Scholar 

  • Coley PD (1988) Effects of plant growth rate and leaf lifetime on the amount and type of anti-harbivore defense. Oecologia 74:531–536

    Google Scholar 

  • Coley PD, Bryant JP, Chapin FS (1985) Resource availability and plant anti-herbivore defense. Science 230:895–899

    Google Scholar 

  • Davidson DW, Longino JT, Snelling RR (1988) Pruning of host plant neighbors by ants: an experimental approach. Ecology 69:801–808

    Google Scholar 

  • Dirzo R (1984) Insect-plant interactions: some ecophysiological consequences of herbivory. In: Medina E, Mooney HA, Vasquez-Yanes C (eds) Physiological ecology of plants in the wet tropics. W Junk Publ, The Hague, pp 209–224

    Google Scholar 

  • Downhower JF (1975) The distribution of ants on Cecropia leaves. Biotropica 7:59–62

    Google Scholar 

  • Duviard D, Segeren P (1974) La colonization d'un myrmécophyte, le parasolier, par Crematogaster spp. (Myrmicinae) en Côte d'Ivoire forestière. Insect Soc 21:191–212

    Google Scholar 

  • Fiala B (1988) Biologie, Funktion und Evolution eines malaysischen Myrmekophytiesystems: Die Assoziation von Crematogaster borneensis (Form.: Myrmicinae) mit Bäumen der Gattung Macaranga (Euphorbiaceae). Dissertation, Univ Frankfurt

  • Huffaker CB, Dahlstein DL, Janzen DH, Kennedy GG (1984) Insect influences in the regulation of plant populations and communities. In: Huffaker CB, Rabb RL (eds) Ecological entomology. Wiley, New York, pp 659–691

    Google Scholar 

  • Huxley CR (1978) The ant-plants Myrmecodia and Hydnophytum (Rubiaceae), and the relationships between their morphology, ant occupants, physiology and ecology. New Phytol 80:231–268

    Google Scholar 

  • Huxley CR (1980) Symbiosis between ants and epiphytes. Biol Rev 55:321–340

    Google Scholar 

  • Huxley CR (1986) Evolution of benevolent ant-plant relationships. In: Juniper B, Southwood R (eds) Insects and the plant surface. E Arnold Publ, London, pp 258–282

    Google Scholar 

  • Janzen DH (1966) Coevolution of mutualism between ants and acacias in Central America. Evolution 20:249–275

    Google Scholar 

  • Janzen DH (1967) Interaction of the bull's horn acacia (Acacia cornigera L.) with an ant inhabitant (Pseudomyrmex ferruginea F. SMITH) in eastern Mexico. Univ Kansas Sci Bull 47:315–558

    Google Scholar 

  • Janzen DH (1969) Allelopathy by myrmecophytes: The ant Azteca as an allelopathic agent of Cecopia. Ecology 50:147–153

    Google Scholar 

  • Janzen DH (1972) Protection of Barteria (Passifloraceae) by Pachysmia ants (Pseudomyrmecinae) in a Nigerian rain forest. Ecology 53:885–892

    Google Scholar 

  • Janzen DH (1973) Sweep samples of tropical foliage insects: effects of seasons, vegetation types, elevation, time of day, and insularity. Ecology 54:687–708

    Google Scholar 

  • Janzen DH (1974a) Epiphytic myrmecophytes in Sarawak: mutualism through the feeding of plants by ants. Biotropical 6:237–259

    Google Scholar 

  • Janzen DH (1974b) Swollen thorn acacias of Central America. Smithson Contri Bot 13:1–131

    Google Scholar 

  • Kochummen KM, Ng FSP (1977) Natural plant succession after farming in Kepong. Malay For 40:61–78

    Google Scholar 

  • Koyama H (1978) Photosynthesis studies in Pasoh forest. Malay Nat J 30:253–278

    Google Scholar 

  • Letourneau DK (1983) Passive aggression: An alternative hypothesis for the Piper-Pheidole association. Oecologia 60:122–126

    Google Scholar 

  • Lowe RG, Walker P (1977) Classification of canopy, stem, crown status and climber infestation in natural tropical forest in Nigeria. J Ecol 14:897–903

    Google Scholar 

  • Maschwitz U, Schroth M, Hänel H, Tho YP (1984) Lycaenids parasitizing symbiotic plant-ant partnerships. Oecologia 64:78–80

    Google Scholar 

  • McKey D (1984) Interaction of the ant-plant Leonardoxa africana (Caesalpiniaceae) with its obligate inhabitants in a rain forest in Cameroon. Biotropica 16:81–99

    Google Scholar 

  • McNaughton SJ (1979) Grazing as an optimization process: Grassungulate relationships in the Serengeti. Am Nat 113:691–703

    Google Scholar 

  • O'Dowd DJ (1979) Foliar nectar production and ant activity on a neotropical tree, Ochroma pyramidale, Oecologia 43:233–248

    Google Scholar 

  • Ong SL (1978) Ecology of the ant-association in Macaranga triloba. Ph. D. Thesis, Univ Malaya, Kuala Lumpur

    Google Scholar 

  • Owen DF, Wiegert RG (1976) Do consumers maximize plant fitness? Oikos 27:488–492

    Google Scholar 

  • Putz PE (1982) Natural history of lianas and their influences on tropical forest dynamics. Ph.D. Thesis, Cornell Univ, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Putz FE (1984) The natural history of lianas on Barro Colorado Island. Ecology 65:1713–1724

    Google Scholar 

  • Putz FE, Holbrook NM (1988) Further observations on the dissolution of mutualism between Cecropia and its ants: the Malaysian case. Oikos 53:121–125

    Google Scholar 

  • Putz FE, Lee HS, Goh R (1984) Effects of post-felling silvicultural treatments on woody vines in Sarawak. Malay For 47:214–226

    Google Scholar 

  • Raup HM (1978) Discussion in Whitmore TC: Gaps in the canopy. In: Tomlinson PB, Zimmermann MH (eds) Tropical trees as living systems. Cambridge Univ Press, Cambridge, London, New York, pp 136–137

    Google Scholar 

  • Richards PW (1952) The tropical rain forest. Cambridge, Univ Press

    Google Scholar 

  • Rickson FR (1979) Absorption of animal tissue breakdown products into a plant stem — the feeding of a plant by ants. Am J Bot 66:87–90

    Google Scholar 

  • Rickson FR (1980) Developmental anatomy and ultrastructure of the ant food bodies (Beccarian bodies) of Macaranga triloba and M. hypoleuca (Euphoribiaceae). Am J Bot 67:285–292

    Google Scholar 

  • Rickson FR, Rickson MM (1986) Nutrient acquisition facilitated by litter collection and ant colonies on two Malaysian palms. Biotropica 18:337–343

    Google Scholar 

  • Ridley HN (1910) Symbiosis of ants and plants. Ann Bot 24:457–485

    Google Scholar 

  • Risch S (1982) How Pheidole ants help Piper plants. Brenesia 19/20:545–548

    Google Scholar 

  • Risch S, McClure M, Vandermeer J, Waltz S (1977) Mutualism between three species of tropical Piper (Piperaceae) and their ant inhabitants. Am Midl Nat 98:433–444

    Google Scholar 

  • Schremmer F (1984) Untersuchungen und Beobachtungen zur Ökoethologie der Pflanzenameise Pseudomyrmex triplarinus, welche die Ameisenbäume der Gattung Triplaris bewohnt. Zool Jahrb Abt Syst Tiere 111:385–410

    Google Scholar 

  • Schupp EW (1981) Interactions between ants and plants: Azteca protection of Cecropia. M.A. Thesis, Univ South Florida, Tampa

    Google Scholar 

  • Schupp EW (1986) Azteca protection of Cecropia: and occupation benefits juvenile trees. Oecologia 70:379–385

    Google Scholar 

  • Stout J (1979) An association of an ant, a mealybug, and an understorey tree from a Costa Rican rain forest. Biotropica 11:309–311

    Google Scholar 

  • Taylor CE (1982) Reproductive biology and ecology of some tropical pioneer trees. Ph.D. Thesis, Univ Aberdeen

  • Tho YP (1978) Living in harmony. Nature Malaysiana 3:34–39

    Google Scholar 

  • Waterman PG, Ross JAM, Benett EL, Davies AG (1988) A comparison of the floristics and leaf chemistry of the tree flora in two Malaysian rain forests and the influence of leaf chemistry on populations of colobine monkeys in the Old World. Biol J Linn Soc 34:1–32

    Google Scholar 

  • Wheeler WM (1921) A study of some social beetles in British Guiana and of their relations to the ant plant Tachygalia. Zoologica 3:35–126

    Google Scholar 

  • Whitmore TC (1984) Tropical rain forests of the Far East. 2nd ed. Clarendon Press, Oxford

    Google Scholar 

  • Windsor DM (1978) The feeding activities of tropical insect herbivores on some deciduous forest legumes. In: Montgomery GG (ed) The ecology of arboreal folivores. Smithson Inst Press, Washington DC, pp 101–113

    Google Scholar 

  • Zar JH (1984) Biostatistical analysis. 2nd ed. Prentice-Hall, Englewood Cliffs, New York

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Author notes

  1. Brigitte Fiala

    Present address: Ökologische Station der Universität Würzburg, Fabrikschleichach, D-8602, Rauthenebrach, FRG

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Zoologisches Institut der Universität, Siesmayerstrasse 70, D-6000, Frankfurt/M., Federal Republic of Germany

    Brigitte Fiala, Ulrich Maschwitz & Andreas J. Helbig

  2. Forest Research Institute Malaysia, Kepong, Selangor, Malaysia

    Tho Yow Pong

Authors
  1. Brigitte Fiala
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Ulrich Maschwitz
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Tho Yow Pong
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Andreas J. Helbig
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Fiala, B., Maschwitz, U., Pong, T.Y. et al. Studies of a South East Asian ant-plant association: protection of Macaranga trees by Crematogaster borneensis . Oecologia 79, 463–470 (1989). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00378662

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00378662

Key words

Search

Navigation