Abstract
It is well known that arboreal ants, both territorially dominant species and plant ants (e.g., species associated with myrmecophytes or plants housing them in hollow structures), protect their host trees from defoliators. Nevertheless, the presence of an induced defense, suggested by the fact that the workers discovering a leaf wound recruit nestmates, is only known for plant ants. Based on the results from a field study, we show here (1) that colonies of Azteca chartifex, a territorially dominant, neotropical arboreal ant species, mostly selected Goupia glabra (Goupiaceae) trees in which to build their principal carton nests and (2) that plant signals induced workers to recruit nestmates, which patrol the leaves, likely providing the plant with a biotic defense. Furthermore, the number of recruited workers was clearly higher on G. glabra, their most frequently selected host tree species, than on other tree species. These results show that contrary to what was previously believed, induced responses are also found in territorially dominant arboreal ants and so are not limited to the specific associations between myrmecophytes and plant ants.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
References
Agrawal AA (1998) Leaf damage and associated cues induce aggressive ant recruitment in a neotropical ant-plant. Ecology 79:2100–2112
Agrawal AA, Dubin-Thaler BJ (1999) Induced responses to herbivory in the Neotropical ant-plant association between Azteca ants and Cecropia trees: response of ants to potential inducing cues. Behav Ecol Sociobiol 45:47–54
Blüthgen N, Stork NE (2007) Ant mosaics in a tropical rainforest in Australia and elsewhere: a critical review. Aust Ecol 32:93–104
Brouat C, McKey D, Bessiere JM, Pascal L, Hossaert-McKey M (2000) Leaf volatile compounds and the distribution of ant patrolling in an ant–plant protection mutualism: preliminary results on Leonardoxa (Fabaceae: Caesalpinioideae) and Petalomyrmex (Formicidae: Formicinae). Acta Oecol 21:349–357
Christianini AV, Machado G (2004) Induced biotic responses to herbivory and associated cues in the Amazonian ant-plant Maieta poeppigii. Entomol Exp Appl 112:81–88
Coley PD, Kursar TA (1996) Anti-herbivore defenses of young tropical leaves: physiological constraints and ecological trade-offs. In: Smith AP, Muclkey SS, Chazdon RL (eds) Tropical forest plant ecophysiology. Chapman and Hall, London, pp 305–336
Davidson DW (2005) Cecropia and its biotic defenses. Flora Neotrop 94:214–226
Dejean A, Corbara B, Orivel J, Leponce M (2007) Rainforest canopy ants: the implications of territoriality and predatory behavior. Funct Ecosyst Commun 1:105–120
Dejean A, Djiéto-Lordon C, Céréghino R, Leponce M (2008) Ontogenetic succession and the ant mosaic: an empirical approach using pioneer trees. Basic Appl Ecol 9:316–323
Djiéto-Lordon C, Dejean A (1999) Tropical arboreal ant mosaic: innate attraction and imprinting determine nesting site selection in dominant ants. Behav Ecol Sociobiol 45:219–225
Edwards DP, Yu DW (2007) The roles of sensory traps in the origin, maintenance, and breakdown of mutualism. Behav Ecol Sociobiol 61:1321–1327
GLIM (1986) Generalised linear interactive modelling 3.77. Royal Statistical Society, London
Heil M, McKey D (2003) Protective ant-plant interactions as model systems in ecological and evolutionary research. Ann Rev Ecol Syst Evol 34:425–553
Lapola DM, Bruna EM, Vasconcelos HL (2003) Contrasting responses to induction cues by ants inhabiting Maieta guianensis (Melastomataceae). Biotropica 35:295–300
Longino JT (2007) A taxonomic review of the genus Azteca (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) in Costa Rica and a global revision of the aurita group. Zootaxa 1491:1–63
Romero GQ, Izzo TJ (2004) Leaf damage induces ant recruitment in the Amazonian ant-plant Hirtella myrmecophila. J Trop Ecol 20:675–682
Styrsky JD, Eubanks MD (2007) Ecological consequences of interactions between ants and honeydew-producing insects. Proc R Soc Lond B 274:151–164
Tollrian R, Harvell CD (1999) The ecology and evolution of inducible defenses. Princeton University Press, Princeton, NJ
Acknowledgments
We are grateful to Jacques H.C. Delabie and Roy R. Snelling for the identification of different samples of ants, to Pascal Petronelli for the identification of the trees, and to Andrea Dejean for proofreading the manuscript. This study was a part of the Programme Amazonie of the CNRS-Guyane.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Dejean, A., Grangier, J., Leroy, C. et al. Nest site selection and induced response in a dominant arboreal ant species. Naturwissenschaften 95, 885–889 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00114-008-0390-z
Received:
Revised:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00114-008-0390-z