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Flowering as a key factor in ant–Philodendron interactions

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 November 2008

Marc Gibernau ,
Jérome Orivel ,
Alain Dejean ,
Jacques Delabie  and
Denis Barabé
Marc Gibernau*
Affiliation:
Laboratoire d'Evolution et Diversité Biologique, UMR-CNRS 5174, Université Paul Sabatier, Bât. 4R3-B2, 31062 Toulouse Cedex 9, France
Jérome Orivel
Affiliation:
Laboratoire d'Evolution et Diversité Biologique, UMR-CNRS 5174, Université Paul Sabatier, Bât. 4R3-B2, 31062 Toulouse Cedex 9, France
Alain Dejean
Affiliation:
Écologie des Forêts de Guyane, UMR-CNRS 8172, Campus agronomique, BP 709, 97379 Kourou cedex, France
Jacques Delabie
Affiliation:
U.P.A. Laboratório de Mirmecologia, Convênio UESC/CEPLAC, C.P. 7, 45600-000 Itabuna, Bahia, Brazil
Denis Barabé
Affiliation:
Institut de Recherche en Biologie Végétale, Jardin botanique de Montréal, Université de Montréal, 4101 Rue Sherbrooke Est, Montréal H1X 2B2 (Québec), Canada
*
1Corresponding author. Email: gibernau@cict.fr
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Extract

With the spread of angiosperms some lineages of ants, originally ground-dwellers and predators, adapted to arboreal life. Ground-nesting worker ants probably constituted the first case of biotic plant protection through their predatory activity while foraging on plant foliage. Then, ants developed tight evolutionary bonds with plants varying from facultative diffuse relationships to obligatory specific associations, necessary to the survival of both partners. In diffuse relationships plants induce different ant species to patrol their foliage by producing energy-rich food rewards such as extra-floral nectar (EFN) and/or food bodies (FBs) (Dejean et al. 2007, Heil 2008, Heil & McKey 2003). First described by Janzen (1966), myrmecophytes, or plants that provide specialized plant-ants a nesting place in hollow structures called domatia, represent a good example of a strict association as, in return, they are protected from several kinds of enemies, particularly defoliating insects (Heil & McKey 2003, Hölldobler & Wilson 1990).

Keywords

Araceaedomatiahabitatnest sitenon-specific associationPhilodendron solimoesenseterritoriality
Type
Short Communication
Information
Journal of Tropical Ecology , Volume 24 , Issue 6 , November 2008 , pp. 689 - 692
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2008

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References

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