Current issues in the evolutionary ecology of ant–plant symbioses

VE Mayer, ME Frederickson, D McKey… - New …, 2014‏ - Wiley Online Library
Ant–plant symbioses involve plants that provide hollow structures specialized for housing
ants and often food to ants. In return, the inhabiting ants protect plants against herbivores …

Ants on plants: a meta-analysis of the role of ants as plant biotic defenses

FB Rosumek, FAO Silveira, F de S. Neves… - Oecologia, 2009‏ - Springer
We reviewed the evidence on the role of ants as plant biotic defenses, by conducting meta-
analyses for the effects of experimental removal of ants on plant herbivory and fitness with …

Fungi as mutualistic partners in ant-plant interactions

VE Mayer, H Voglmayr, R Blatrix, J Orivel… - Frontiers in Fungal …, 2023‏ - frontiersin.org
Associations between fungi and ants living in mutualistic relationship with plants (“plant-
ants”) have been known for a long time. However, only in recent years has the mutualistic …

Insights Into the Ecological Role of Pseudomonas spp. in an Ant-plant Symbiosis

TTH Fukuda, CF Pereira, WGP Melo… - Frontiers in …, 2021‏ - frontiersin.org
In the myrmecophytic mutualistic relationship between Aztec a ants and Cecropia plants
both species receive protection and exchange nutrients. The presence of microorganisms in …

Nectar Secretion of Floral Buds of Tococa guianensis Mediates Interactions With Generalist Ants That Reduce Florivory

JN Mesquita-Neto, EAS Paiva, L Galetto… - Frontiers in Plant …, 2020‏ - frontiersin.org
The specialised mutualism between Tococa guianensis and ants housed in its leaf domatia
is a well-known example of myrmecophily. A pollination study on this species revealed that …

How to be an ant on figs

A Bain, RD Harrison, B Schatz - Acta Oecologica, 2014‏ - Elsevier
Mutualistic interactions are open to exploitation by one or other of the partners and a
diversity of other organisms, and hence are best understood as being embedded in a …

Competition with insectivorous ants as a contributor to low songbird diversity at low elevations in the eastern Himalaya

K Supriya, TD Price, CS Moreau - Ecology and Evolution, 2020‏ - Wiley Online Library
Competitive interactions between distantly related clades could cause complementary
diversity patterns of these clades over large spatial scales. One such example might be ants …

A Plant Needs Ants like a Dog Needs Fleas: Myrmelachista schumanni Ants Gall Many Tree Species to Create Housing

DP Edwards, ME Frederickson… - The American …, 2009‏ - journals.uchicago.edu
Hundreds of tropical plant species house ant colonies in specialized chambers called
domatia. When, in 1873, Richard Spruce likened plant-ants to fleas and asserted that …

Food bodies in Cissus verticillata (Vitaceae): ontogenesis, structure and functional aspects

EAS Paiva, RA Buono, JA Lombardi - Annals of Botany, 2009‏ - academic.oup.com
Abstract Background and Aims The distinction between pearl bodies (or pearl glands) and
food bodies (FBs) is not clear; neither is our understanding of what these structures really …

Geographical variation in an ant–plant interaction correlates with domatia occupancy, local ant diversity, and interlopers

M Shenoy, RM Borges - Biological Journal of the Linnean …, 2010‏ - academic.oup.com
Interactions between potentially mutualistic partners can vary over geographic areas.
Myrmecophytes, which are plants harbouring ants, often do not exhibit sufficient intraspecific …