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Ants defend coffee from berry borer colonization

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Abstract

Ants frequently prevent herbivores from damaging plants. In agroecosystems they may provide pest control services, although their contributions are not always appreciated. Here we compared the ability of eight ant species to prevent the coffee berry borer from colonizing coffee berries with a field exclusion experiment. We removed ants from one branch (exclusion) and left ants to forage on a second branch (control) before releasing 20 berry borers on each branch. After 24 h, six of eight species had significantly reduced the number of berries bored by the berry borer compared to exclusion treatment branches. While the number of berries per branch was a significant covariate explaining the number of berries bored, ant activity (that varied greatly among species) was not a significant factor in models. This study is the first field experiment to provide evidence that a diverse group of ant species limit the berry borer from colonizing coffee berries.

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Acknowledgments

We thank Gabriel Dominguez and Pedro Perez Lopez for field assistance in the collection of this data. We thank Finca Irlanda for allowing us access to work within the coffee plantation. We also thank the Associate Editor A. Janssen and two anonymous reviewers for improving previous manuscripts. Funding was provided by the University of Michigan, Rackham International Research Award, NSF-GRF (DGE-0718128) to D. Gonthier, NSF Grant (DEB-1309786) to D. Gonthier and I. Perfecto, and NSF grant (DEB-1020096) to S. Philpott.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Natural Resources and Environment, University of Michigan, 440 Church St., Ann Arbor, MI, 48109, USA

    David J. Gonthier & Ivette Perfecto

  2. Environmental Studies Department, University of California, 1156 High St., Santa Cruz, CA, 95064, USA

    Katherine K. Ennis & Stacy M. Philpott

  3. Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Michigan, 830 N University Ave., Ann Arbor, MI, 48109, USA

    John Vandermeer

Authors
  1. David J. Gonthier
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  2. Katherine K. Ennis
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  3. Stacy M. Philpott
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  4. John Vandermeer
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  5. Ivette Perfecto
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to David J. Gonthier.

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Handling Editor: Arne Janssen.

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Gonthier, D.J., Ennis, K.K., Philpott, S.M. et al. Ants defend coffee from berry borer colonization. BioControl 58, 815–820 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10526-013-9541-z

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10526-013-9541-z

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