Ants Visiting the Post-Floral Secretions of Pericarpial Nectaries in Palicourea rigida (Rubiaceae) Provide Protection Against Leaf Herbivores But Not Against Seed Parasites

<h4 align="left">Pericarpial nectaries (PNs) have frequently been treated in the literature as extrafloral nectaries (EFNs). This treatment is partly justified by their morphological and functional similarities in attracting bodyguard ants to protect the plant against herbivores. Pal...

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Autores principales:	Kleber Del-Claro, Rhainer Guillermo-Ferreira, Helena Zardini, Elizângela Machado Almeida, Helena Maura Torezan-Silingardi
Formato:	article
Lenguaje:	EN
Publicado:	Universidade Estadual de Feira de Santana 2013
Materias:	Mutualism ant-plant interactions parasitism seed predation herbivory Zoology QL1-991 Ecology QH540-549.5 Natural history (General) QH1-278.5
Acceso en línea:	https://doaj.org/article/2e615d18492a48f4bdc5099ecece6834
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spelling	oai:doaj.org-article:2e615d18492a48f4bdc5099ecece68342021-12-02T12:44:12ZAnts Visiting the Post-Floral Secretions of Pericarpial Nectaries in Palicourea rigida (Rubiaceae) Provide Protection Against Leaf Herbivores But Not Against Seed Parasites0361-652510.13102/sociobiology.v60i3.217-221https://doaj.org/article/2e615d18492a48f4bdc5099ecece68342013-11-01T00:00:00Zhttp://periodicos.uefs.br/ojs/index.php/sociobiology/article/view/64https://doaj.org/toc/0361-6525<h4 align="left">Pericarpial nectaries (PNs) have frequently been treated in the literature as extrafloral nectaries (EFNs). This treatment is partly justified by their morphological and functional similarities in attracting bodyguard ants to protect the plant against herbivores. Palicourea rigida is a common Neotropical savanna treelet with tubular yellow flowers that are pollinated by hummingbirds. After pollination, the corolla falls, but the sepal ring remains and keeps the nectaries active over the ovarium throughout fruit development stages. Using a standard ant-exclusion experiment, we tested whether these PNs attract ants to protect the developing fruits against seed parasites and the leaves against chewing herbivores. We analyzed the differences between the initial and final leaf area. Before full fruits maturity, they were collected and taken to the laboratory for weighing and to observe wasp emergence. The number of wasps per fruit and per plant was recorded. The results showed that after pollination, the floral nectaries of P. rigida act as EFNs, attracting visiting ants. Ant-tended plants lost significantly less leaf area and had heavier fruits than untended plants. However, the ants did not protect the fruits against seed-parasitic wasps. In P. rigida, the post-floral secretions of PNs play the same role as EFNs, and the ant-plant mutualism is context-dependent based on the type of herbivore and the plant tissue consumed.</h4>Kleber Del-ClaroRhainer Guillermo-FerreiraHelena ZardiniElizângela Machado AlmeidaHelena Maura Torezan-SilingardiUniversidade Estadual de Feira de SantanaarticleMutualismant-plant interactionsparasitismseed predationherbivoryZoologyQL1-991EcologyQH540-549.5Natural history (General)QH1-278.5ENSociobiology, Vol 60, Iss 3, Pp 217-221 (2013)
institution	DOAJ
collection	DOAJ
language	EN
topic	Mutualism ant-plant interactions parasitism seed predation herbivory Zoology QL1-991 Ecology QH540-549.5 Natural history (General) QH1-278.5
spellingShingle	Mutualism ant-plant interactions parasitism seed predation herbivory Zoology QL1-991 Ecology QH540-549.5 Natural history (General) QH1-278.5 Kleber Del-Claro Rhainer Guillermo-Ferreira Helena Zardini Elizângela Machado Almeida Helena Maura Torezan-Silingardi Ants Visiting the Post-Floral Secretions of Pericarpial Nectaries in Palicourea rigida (Rubiaceae) Provide Protection Against Leaf Herbivores But Not Against Seed Parasites
description	<h4 align="left">Pericarpial nectaries (PNs) have frequently been treated in the literature as extrafloral nectaries (EFNs). This treatment is partly justified by their morphological and functional similarities in attracting bodyguard ants to protect the plant against herbivores. Palicourea rigida is a common Neotropical savanna treelet with tubular yellow flowers that are pollinated by hummingbirds. After pollination, the corolla falls, but the sepal ring remains and keeps the nectaries active over the ovarium throughout fruit development stages. Using a standard ant-exclusion experiment, we tested whether these PNs attract ants to protect the developing fruits against seed parasites and the leaves against chewing herbivores. We analyzed the differences between the initial and final leaf area. Before full fruits maturity, they were collected and taken to the laboratory for weighing and to observe wasp emergence. The number of wasps per fruit and per plant was recorded. The results showed that after pollination, the floral nectaries of P. rigida act as EFNs, attracting visiting ants. Ant-tended plants lost significantly less leaf area and had heavier fruits than untended plants. However, the ants did not protect the fruits against seed-parasitic wasps. In P. rigida, the post-floral secretions of PNs play the same role as EFNs, and the ant-plant mutualism is context-dependent based on the type of herbivore and the plant tissue consumed.</h4>
format	article
author	Kleber Del-Claro Rhainer Guillermo-Ferreira Helena Zardini Elizângela Machado Almeida Helena Maura Torezan-Silingardi
author_facet	Kleber Del-Claro Rhainer Guillermo-Ferreira Helena Zardini Elizângela Machado Almeida Helena Maura Torezan-Silingardi
author_sort	Kleber Del-Claro
title	Ants Visiting the Post-Floral Secretions of Pericarpial Nectaries in Palicourea rigida (Rubiaceae) Provide Protection Against Leaf Herbivores But Not Against Seed Parasites
title_short	Ants Visiting the Post-Floral Secretions of Pericarpial Nectaries in Palicourea rigida (Rubiaceae) Provide Protection Against Leaf Herbivores But Not Against Seed Parasites
title_full	Ants Visiting the Post-Floral Secretions of Pericarpial Nectaries in Palicourea rigida (Rubiaceae) Provide Protection Against Leaf Herbivores But Not Against Seed Parasites
title_fullStr	Ants Visiting the Post-Floral Secretions of Pericarpial Nectaries in Palicourea rigida (Rubiaceae) Provide Protection Against Leaf Herbivores But Not Against Seed Parasites
title_full_unstemmed	Ants Visiting the Post-Floral Secretions of Pericarpial Nectaries in Palicourea rigida (Rubiaceae) Provide Protection Against Leaf Herbivores But Not Against Seed Parasites
title_sort	ants visiting the post-floral secretions of pericarpial nectaries in palicourea rigida (rubiaceae) provide protection against leaf herbivores but not against seed parasites
publisher	Universidade Estadual de Feira de Santana
publishDate	2013
url	https://doaj.org/article/2e615d18492a48f4bdc5099ecece6834
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Ants Visiting the Post-Floral Secretions of Pericarpial Nectaries in Palicourea rigida (Rubiaceae) Provide Protection Against Leaf Herbivores But Not Against Seed Parasites

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