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Seed cleaning behavior by tropical ants and its anti-fungal effect

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Abstract

In tropical forests, ants frequently consume fruit pulp around seeds of vertebrate-dispersed plants, which protects the seeds from infection by fungus and pathogens. Seed cleaning behavior by omnivorous ants was observed in the secondary forests of Bogor botanical garden in West Java. Fruit pulp around the seeds of the rambutan Nephelium lappaceum was completely removed by Pheidole plagiaria, Anoplolepis gracilipes, and other ants. When seed cleaners were excluded, however, many seeds were attacked by fungus and died. Seeds that were cleaned by hand, but not by ants, were similarly attacked. Field experiments on seed cleaning by P. plagiaria revealed that the anti-fungal effect was not merely caused by removal of fruit pulp, and that seed cleaning reduced the development of spores and hypha of fungi. We suggest that the workers apply anti-fungal substances to the fruit pulp and seed surface.

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Acknowledgements

We express sincere thanks to Prof. K. Yamauchi and Associate Prof. F. Ito for their useful suggestions and help with the fieldwork. We also thank Dr. P.S. Oliveira and Dr. J.T. Longino for critically reading the manuscript. Cordial thanks are due to Dr. Woro A. Noerdjito, Dr. Sih Kahono, and Erniwati for their help with the research. This study was supported in part by the Japan Ministry of Education, Science, Sports and Culture Grant for Overseas Research (No. 10740417, No 11691130).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Ecological Laboratory, Division of Biological Sciences, Graduate School of Natural Science and Technology, Kanazawa University, Kanazawa, 920-1192, Japan

    Kyohsuke Ohkawara

  2. Laboratory of Insect Behavior, National Institute of Agrobiological Sciences, Tsukuba, 305-0032, Japan

    Toshiharu Akino

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  1. Kyohsuke Ohkawara
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  2. Toshiharu Akino
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Correspondence to Kyohsuke Ohkawara.

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Ohkawara, K., Akino, T. Seed cleaning behavior by tropical ants and its anti-fungal effect. J Ethol 23, 93–98 (2005). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10164-004-0132-4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10164-004-0132-4

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