Mutualisms (cooperative interactions between species) have had a central role in the generation and maintenance of life on earth. Insects and plants are involved in diverse forms of mutualism. Here we review evolutionary features of three prominent insect-plant mutualisms: pollination, protection and seed dispersal. We focus on addressing five central phenomena: evolutionary origins and maintenance of mutualism; the evolution of mutualistic traits; the evolution of specialization and generalization; coevolutionary processes; and the existence of cheating. Several features uniting very diverse insect-plant mutualisms are identified and their evolutionary implications are discussed: the involvement of one mobile and one sedentary partner; natural selection on plant rewards; the existence of a continuum from specialization to generalization; and the ubiquity of cheating, particularly on the part of insects. Plant-insect mutualisms have apparently both arisen and been lost repeatedly. Many adaptive hypotheses have been proposed to explain these transitions, and it is unlikely that any one of them dominates across interactions differing so widely in natural history. Evolutionary theory has a potentially important, but as yet largely unfilled, role to play in explaining the origins, maintenance, breakdown and evolution of insect-plant mutualisms.

/pdf/the-evolution-of-plant-insect-mutualisms-3d1wa86udw.pdf

The evolution of plant–insect mutualisms

The current knowledge of the physiological ecology of vascular epiphytes is reviewed here with an emphasis on the most recent literature. It is argued that by far the most relevant abiotic constraint for growth and vegetative function of vascular epiphytes is water shortage, while other factors such as nutrient availability or irradiation, are generally of inferior importance. However, it is shown that the present understanding of epiphyte biology is still highly biased, both taxonomically and ecologically, and it is concluded that any generalizations are still preliminary. Future studies should include a much wider range of taxa and growing sites within the canopy to reach a better understanding how abiotic factors are limiting epiphyte growth and survival which, in turn, should affect epiphyte community composition. Finally, a more integrative approach to epiphyte biology is encouraged: physiological investigations should be balanced by studies of other possible constraints, for example, substrate instability, dispersal limitation, competition or herbivory.

The physiological ecology of vascular epiphytes: current knowledge, open questions

One common class of ant-plant mutualism involves ants that defend plants from natural enemies in return for food and sometimes shelter. Studies of these interactions have played a major role in shaping our broad understanding of mutualism. Their central contribution has come via their development of approaches to measuring the benefits, costs, and net outcomes of mutualism, and their explicit consideration of variability in all of these phenomena. Current research on these interactions is suggesting ecological and evolutionary hypotheses that may be applicable to many other forms of mutualism. It is also generating comparative data for testing the few general theories about mutualism that currently exist.

/pdf/the-contribution-of-ant-plant-protection-studies-to-our-1gyqe4jet4.pdf

The Contribution of Ant-Plant Protection Studies to Our Understanding of Mutualism'

ALTHOUGH ant-plant mutualisms have been described in many ecosystems, the magnitude of the direct benefits from such relationships are hard to quantify. In Bako National Park, Sarawak, Malaysia, stunted 'kerangas' forests occur on nutrient-poor sandstone hills1–3. As trees are widely spaced and have a sparse leaf area, a significant amount of light reaches the tree trunks and enables a diverse community of epiphytes to thrive there4. One of these epiphytes, Dischidia major (Vahl) Merr. (Asclepiadaceae), has evolved unusual methods for enhancing carbon and nitrogen acquisition. We show here that a mutualistic relationship exists between ants of the genus Philidris and their host, D. major. Using stable isotope analysis, we calculate that 39% of the carbon in occupied host plant leaves is derived from ant-related respiration, and that 29% of the host nitrogen is derived from debris deposited into the leaf cavities by ants.

/pdf/absorption-of-ant-provided-carbon-dioxide-and-nitrogen-by-a-ndzgzd33gh.pdf

Absorption of ant-provided carbon dioxide and nitrogen by a tropical epiphyte

1 We studied the dispersal system of the tree Clusia criuva (Clusiaceae) in a tropical rain forest in south-east Brazil. An observational/experimental approach was adopted to estimate the probability of transitions between consecutive stages in the recruitment process (i.e. fruit production and removal by birds, ant-seed interactions on the forest floor, seed germination, and establishment and early survival of seedlings). 2 Clusia trees produce hundreds of capsules with small lipid-rich arillate seeds. Crop size ranges from 393 to 3709 capsules per tree. Birds (14 species) eat 83% of the diaspores on the tree, while the remaining 17% fall to the ground and are removed by ants (16 species). 3 Ants remove 89% of the fallen diaspores and 98% of the seeds found in bird faeces. Ponerine ants (Odontomachus, Pachycondyla) carry the diaspores to their nests, while small myrmicines (Pheidole, Crematogaster) remove the aril where found. Aril removal by ants and removal of seeds from bird defecations increase germination success in C. criuva. 4 Seedlings are more frequent close to ponerine nests than in control areas without such nests. Early seedling survival (1 year) in nests of Pachycondyla striata is greater than in control areas. Soil samples from nests of P. striata also had higher concentrations of total nitrogen and phosphorus than random soil samples. 5 This is the first study to demonstrate the combined effects of ants on the distribution and survival of seedlings of a primarily vertebrate-dispersed plant in a tropical forest. Key-words: ants, birds, Brazil, Clusia, Clusiaceae, seed dispersal, seedling survival, tropical rain forest.

/pdf/ants-affect-the-distribution-and-performance-of-seedlings-of-kb7e68irb4.pdf

Ants affect the distribution and performance of seedlings of Clusia criuva, a primarily bird-dispersed rain forest tree

Ants are the most common arboreal insects of tropical forests (Leston 1973; Erwin 1983; Wilson 1987) and possibly the most frequent animal contacts of epiphytic plants. It is not surprising, then, that epiphytes share a number of ecological interactions with ants, and that some of these interactions have become prominent features of epiphyte biology. Not only are ants abundant and ubiquitous, but their unique social attributes proffer a functional significance disproportionate to numbers. As eusocial insects (Wilson 1971), ants exhibit a division of colony labors between reproductive and sterile (worker) castes. Primary responsibility for more dangerous, extranidal activity resides with the workers, and the colony as a reproductive unit often enjoys considerable immunity from predation (Wilson 1971; Jeanne and Davidson 1984). Consequently, ant populations are often limited by food and/or nest sites (e.g. Wilson 1959; Leston 1973; Swain 1977; Brown and Davidson 1977) and are likely to be responsive over both ecological and evolutionary time to the provisioning of such resources by epiphytes and other plants. Relatively long life expectancies allow many ants to divert considerable energy and resources early in the life history to modifications of the nesting and foraging environments (Forel 1929). In turn, these modifications may further counteract negative abiotic and biotic selection pressures and further prolong colony lifespans.

Epiphytic Associations with Ants

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Epiphytic Associations with Ants