Increased host investment in extrafloral nectar (EFN) improves the efficiency of a mutualistic defensive service.

Extrafloral nectar (EFN) plays an important role as plant indirect defence through the attraction of defending ants. Like all rewards produced in the context of a mutualism, however, EFN is in danger of being exploited by non-ant consumers that do not defend the plant against herbivores. Here we ask...

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Autores principales:	Marcia González-Teuber, Juan Carlos Silva Bueno, Martin Heil, Wilhelm Boland
Formato:	article
Lenguaje:	EN
Publicado:	Public Library of Science (PLoS) 2012
Materias:	Medicine R Science Q
Acceso en línea:	https://doaj.org/article/fae0be2d4c9f4885a18bd0ac1a5c9a14
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spelling	oai:doaj.org-article:fae0be2d4c9f4885a18bd0ac1a5c9a142021-11-18T08:13:13ZIncreased host investment in extrafloral nectar (EFN) improves the efficiency of a mutualistic defensive service.1932-620310.1371/journal.pone.0046598https://doaj.org/article/fae0be2d4c9f4885a18bd0ac1a5c9a142012-01-01T00:00:00Zhttps://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/pmid/23056362/?tool=EBIhttps://doaj.org/toc/1932-6203Extrafloral nectar (EFN) plays an important role as plant indirect defence through the attraction of defending ants. Like all rewards produced in the context of a mutualism, however, EFN is in danger of being exploited by non-ant consumers that do not defend the plant against herbivores. Here we asked whether plants, by investing more in EFN, can improve their indirect defence, or rather increase the risk of losing this investment to EFN thieves. We used the obligate plant-ant Acacia-Pseudomyrmex system and examined experimentally in the field during the dry and the rainy seasons how variations in EFN secretion are related to (i) ant activity, to (ii) the ant-mediated defence against herbivores and (iii) the exploitation of EFN by non-ant consumers. Extrafloral investment enhanced ant recruitment and was positively related to the ant mediated defence against herbivores. The ant-mediated protection from exploiters also increased in proportion to the nectar sugar concentration. Although the daily peak of EFN production coincided with the highest activity of EFN thieves, Pseudomyrmex ferrugineus ants protected this resource effectively from exploiters. Nevertheless, the defensive effects by ants differed among seasons. During the dry season, plants grew slower and secreted more EFN than in the rainy season, and thus, experienced a higher level of ant-mediated indirect defence. Our results show that an increased plant investment in an indirect defence trait can improve the resulting defensive service against both herbivores and exploiters. EFN secretion by obligate ant-plants represents a defensive trait for which the level of investment correlates positively with the beneficial effects obtained.Marcia González-TeuberJuan Carlos Silva BuenoMartin HeilWilhelm BolandPublic Library of Science (PLoS)articleMedicineRScienceQENPLoS ONE, Vol 7, Iss 10, p e46598 (2012)
institution	DOAJ
collection	DOAJ
language	EN
topic	Medicine R Science Q
spellingShingle	Medicine R Science Q Marcia González-Teuber Juan Carlos Silva Bueno Martin Heil Wilhelm Boland Increased host investment in extrafloral nectar (EFN) improves the efficiency of a mutualistic defensive service.
description	Extrafloral nectar (EFN) plays an important role as plant indirect defence through the attraction of defending ants. Like all rewards produced in the context of a mutualism, however, EFN is in danger of being exploited by non-ant consumers that do not defend the plant against herbivores. Here we asked whether plants, by investing more in EFN, can improve their indirect defence, or rather increase the risk of losing this investment to EFN thieves. We used the obligate plant-ant Acacia-Pseudomyrmex system and examined experimentally in the field during the dry and the rainy seasons how variations in EFN secretion are related to (i) ant activity, to (ii) the ant-mediated defence against herbivores and (iii) the exploitation of EFN by non-ant consumers. Extrafloral investment enhanced ant recruitment and was positively related to the ant mediated defence against herbivores. The ant-mediated protection from exploiters also increased in proportion to the nectar sugar concentration. Although the daily peak of EFN production coincided with the highest activity of EFN thieves, Pseudomyrmex ferrugineus ants protected this resource effectively from exploiters. Nevertheless, the defensive effects by ants differed among seasons. During the dry season, plants grew slower and secreted more EFN than in the rainy season, and thus, experienced a higher level of ant-mediated indirect defence. Our results show that an increased plant investment in an indirect defence trait can improve the resulting defensive service against both herbivores and exploiters. EFN secretion by obligate ant-plants represents a defensive trait for which the level of investment correlates positively with the beneficial effects obtained.
format	article
author	Marcia González-Teuber Juan Carlos Silva Bueno Martin Heil Wilhelm Boland
author_facet	Marcia González-Teuber Juan Carlos Silva Bueno Martin Heil Wilhelm Boland
author_sort	Marcia González-Teuber
title	Increased host investment in extrafloral nectar (EFN) improves the efficiency of a mutualistic defensive service.
title_short	Increased host investment in extrafloral nectar (EFN) improves the efficiency of a mutualistic defensive service.
title_full	Increased host investment in extrafloral nectar (EFN) improves the efficiency of a mutualistic defensive service.
title_fullStr	Increased host investment in extrafloral nectar (EFN) improves the efficiency of a mutualistic defensive service.
title_full_unstemmed	Increased host investment in extrafloral nectar (EFN) improves the efficiency of a mutualistic defensive service.
title_sort	increased host investment in extrafloral nectar (efn) improves the efficiency of a mutualistic defensive service.
publisher	Public Library of Science (PLoS)
publishDate	2012
url	https://doaj.org/article/fae0be2d4c9f4885a18bd0ac1a5c9a14
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Increased host investment in extrafloral nectar (EFN) improves the efficiency of a mutualistic defensive service.

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