Native and invasive ants affect floral visits of pollinating honey bees in pumpkin flowers (Cucurbita maxima)

Abstract Global pollinator decline is a major concern. Several factors—climate change, land-use change, the reduction of flowers, pesticide use, and invasive species—have been suggested as the reasons. Despite being a potential reason, the effect of ants on flowers received less attention. The conse...

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Autores principales:	Anjana Pisharody Unni, Sajad Hussain Mir, T. P. Rajesh, U. Prashanth Ballullaya, Thomas Jose, Palatty Allesh Sinu
Formato:	article
Lenguaje:	EN
Publicado:	Nature Portfolio 2021
Materias:	Medicine R Science Q
Acceso en línea:	https://doaj.org/article/b45f42a7a35f4a07a132393b0f3dae3b
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spelling	oai:doaj.org-article:b45f42a7a35f4a07a132393b0f3dae3b2021-12-02T13:35:03ZNative and invasive ants affect floral visits of pollinating honey bees in pumpkin flowers (Cucurbita maxima)10.1038/s41598-021-83902-w2045-2322https://doaj.org/article/b45f42a7a35f4a07a132393b0f3dae3b2021-02-01T00:00:00Zhttps://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-021-83902-whttps://doaj.org/toc/2045-2322Abstract Global pollinator decline is a major concern. Several factors—climate change, land-use change, the reduction of flowers, pesticide use, and invasive species—have been suggested as the reasons. Despite being a potential reason, the effect of ants on flowers received less attention. The consequences of ants being attracted to nectar sources in plants vary depending upon factors like the nectar source's position, ants' identity, and other mutualists interacting with the plants. We studied the interaction between flower-visiting ants and pollinators in Cucurbita maxima and compared the competition exerted by native and invasive ants on its pollinators to examine the hypothesis that the invasive ants exacerbate more interference competition to pollinators than the native ants. We assessed the pollinator's choice, visitation rate, and time spent/visit on the flowers. Regardless of species and nativity, ants negatively influenced all the pollinator visitation traits, such as visitation rate and duration spent on flowers. The invasive ants exerted a higher interference competition on the pollinators than the native ants did. Despite performing pollination in flowers with generalist pollination syndrome, ants can threaten plant-pollinator mutualism in specialist plants like monoecious plants. A better understanding of factors influencing pollination will help in implementing better management practices.Anjana Pisharody UnniSajad Hussain MirT. P. RajeshU. Prashanth BallullayaThomas JosePalatty Allesh SinuNature PortfolioarticleMedicineRScienceQENScientific Reports, Vol 11, Iss 1, Pp 1-7 (2021)
institution	DOAJ
collection	DOAJ
language	EN
topic	Medicine R Science Q
spellingShingle	Medicine R Science Q Anjana Pisharody Unni Sajad Hussain Mir T. P. Rajesh U. Prashanth Ballullaya Thomas Jose Palatty Allesh Sinu Native and invasive ants affect floral visits of pollinating honey bees in pumpkin flowers (Cucurbita maxima)
description	Abstract Global pollinator decline is a major concern. Several factors—climate change, land-use change, the reduction of flowers, pesticide use, and invasive species—have been suggested as the reasons. Despite being a potential reason, the effect of ants on flowers received less attention. The consequences of ants being attracted to nectar sources in plants vary depending upon factors like the nectar source's position, ants' identity, and other mutualists interacting with the plants. We studied the interaction between flower-visiting ants and pollinators in Cucurbita maxima and compared the competition exerted by native and invasive ants on its pollinators to examine the hypothesis that the invasive ants exacerbate more interference competition to pollinators than the native ants. We assessed the pollinator's choice, visitation rate, and time spent/visit on the flowers. Regardless of species and nativity, ants negatively influenced all the pollinator visitation traits, such as visitation rate and duration spent on flowers. The invasive ants exerted a higher interference competition on the pollinators than the native ants did. Despite performing pollination in flowers with generalist pollination syndrome, ants can threaten plant-pollinator mutualism in specialist plants like monoecious plants. A better understanding of factors influencing pollination will help in implementing better management practices.
format	article
author	Anjana Pisharody Unni Sajad Hussain Mir T. P. Rajesh U. Prashanth Ballullaya Thomas Jose Palatty Allesh Sinu
author_facet	Anjana Pisharody Unni Sajad Hussain Mir T. P. Rajesh U. Prashanth Ballullaya Thomas Jose Palatty Allesh Sinu
author_sort	Anjana Pisharody Unni
title	Native and invasive ants affect floral visits of pollinating honey bees in pumpkin flowers (Cucurbita maxima)
title_short	Native and invasive ants affect floral visits of pollinating honey bees in pumpkin flowers (Cucurbita maxima)
title_full	Native and invasive ants affect floral visits of pollinating honey bees in pumpkin flowers (Cucurbita maxima)
title_fullStr	Native and invasive ants affect floral visits of pollinating honey bees in pumpkin flowers (Cucurbita maxima)
title_full_unstemmed	Native and invasive ants affect floral visits of pollinating honey bees in pumpkin flowers (Cucurbita maxima)
title_sort	native and invasive ants affect floral visits of pollinating honey bees in pumpkin flowers (cucurbita maxima)
publisher	Nature Portfolio
publishDate	2021
url	https://doaj.org/article/b45f42a7a35f4a07a132393b0f3dae3b
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Native and invasive ants affect floral visits of pollinating honey bees in pumpkin flowers (Cucurbita maxima)

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