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Plants with extrafloral nectaries share indirect defenses and shape the local arboreal ant community

  • Plant-microbe-animal interactions – original research
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Abstract

Associational resistance (AR) is a positive interaction in which a plant suffers less herbivore damage due to its association with a protective plant. Here, we evaluated whether plants with extra-floral nectaries (EFNs) can share indirect defenses with neighboring plants. We sampled 45 individuals of an EFN-bearing liana (Smilax polyantha) and recorded whether their support species had EFNs. In S. polyantha, we measured foliar herbivory and flower and fruit production. We examined the ant species composition and visitation of S. polyantha and whether they changed according to the supporting plant type (with or without EFNs). We experimentally determined whether S. polyantha supplemented with artificial nectaries could share indirect defenses with defenseless neighboring plants. Support plants with EFNs indirectly benefited S. polyantha by sharing mutualistic ant species. Smilax polyantha supported by plants with EFNs had a more specific ant species composition, a higher number of visiting ants and ant species richness, and exhibited nearly 3 times less foliar herbivory. However, we did not observe differences in fruit production between the two groups of S. polyantha. Finally, we observed that S. polyantha with artificial nectaries increased ant visitation on neighboring plants 2.5 times. We provide evidence that interspecific neighbors with EFNs can experience reciprocal benefits by sharing indirect defenses. Such local effects might escalate and affect the structure of plant communities.

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Data availability

The datasets used and/or analyzed during the current study are available at https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.21379713.

Code availability

R codes are available at https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.21379713.

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Acknowledgements

We thank Robert J. Marquis, Eva Colberg, Miguel Chaves-Fallas, Estefania Barrancos, Jared Chauncey, Eduardo Calixto, Diego Anjos, Rodrigo Pereira, Alan da Costa, Jean Santos, and Drielly Queiroga for interesting discussions and comments on earlier versions of this manuscript. We also thank two anonymous reviewers and Dr. Susan Whitehead for valuable comments that improved the quality of this manuscript.

Funding

This research was supported by the Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES), code 001, and the Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq), 403647/2021-5.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Universidade Federal de Uberlândia, Minas Gerais, Brazil

    Renan Fernandes Moura & Kleber Del-Claro

  2. Dead Sea and Arava Science Center, Masada, Israel

    Renan Fernandes Moura

  3. Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv-Yafo, Israel

    Renan Fernandes Moura

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  1. Renan Fernandes Moura
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  2. Kleber Del-Claro
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R.F.M. and K.D.C. conceived and designed the study. R.F.M. collected data, performed statistical analyses, and wrote the first daft. Both authors wrote and approved the final manuscript.

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Correspondence to Renan Fernandes Moura.

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Communicated by Susan Whitehead.

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Moura, R.F., Del-Claro, K. Plants with extrafloral nectaries share indirect defenses and shape the local arboreal ant community. Oecologia 201, 73–82 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00442-022-05286-6

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