Clusters of ant colonies and robust criticality in a tropical agroecosystem

Vandermeer, John; Perfecto, Ivette; Philpott, Stacy M.

doi:10.1038/nature06477

Cited by 117 publications

(190 citation statements)

References 18 publications

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“…Mutual nest defense appears unlikely given that the mean distance to nearest neighbor was 65.81 m. This distance seems too large to permit any kind of defensive interaction between nests. Vandermeer et al (2008) showed that ant colonies can acquire an aggregated spatial distribution via an interaction of density dependent predation and shortdistance dispersal of offspring nests from the 1.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Even when no environmental heterogeneity is discernable, it is often assumed that clumped distributions arise from cryptic environmental heterogeneity. More recently, it has been recognized that spatial patterns can arise through selforganized interactions (Ball, 1999), for example between density-dependent predation and population growth (Maron and Harison, 1997;Vandermeer et al, 2008) or simple attraction between individuals of the same species (Sumpter, 2006).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Aggregations of unrelatedApis floreacolonies

Wattanachaiyingcharoen

Wongsiri

Oldroyd

2008

Apidologie

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-Intensive surveys of an area of woodland in Phitsanulok province, Thailand, revealed 15 colonies of Apis florea. The colonies had a highly aggregated spatial distribution (Standardized Morisita's Index of Dispersion = 0.59). Microsatellite analysis based on 5 loci showed that no colonies were related as motherdaughter, suggesting that unrelated colonies tend to nest near existing colonies.aggregation / Apis florea / Thailand /dwarf honey bee / colony relatedness

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Aggregations of unrelatedApis floreacolonies

Wattanachaiyingcharoen

Wongsiri

Oldroyd

2008

Apidologie

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“…Azteca sericeasur is the most abundant ant of the approximately 60 species of arboreal ants on the farm [25]. Azteca sericeasur builds carton nests on the trunks of shade trees within the coffee plantation, where their colonies tend to be distributed in patches [27]. Ants, beetles and phorid flies were all collected for laboratory experiments at five different A. sericeasur nests within the field site using an aspirator.…”

Section: Materials and Methods (A) Study Sitementioning

confidence: 99%

Dead ant walking: a myrmecophilous beetle predator uses parasitoid host location cues to selectively prey on parasitized ants

Mathis¹,

Tsutsui²

2016

Proc. R. Soc. B.

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Myrmecophiles (i.e. organisms that associate with ants) use a variety of ecological niches and employ different strategies to survive encounters with ants. Because ants are typically excellent defenders, myrmecophiles may choose moments of weakness to take advantage of their ant associates. This hypothesis was studied in the rove beetle, Myrmedonota xipe, which associates with Azteca sericeasur ants in the presence of parasitoid flies. A combination of laboratory and field experiments show that M. xipe beetles selectively locate and prey upon parasitized ants. These parasitized ants are less aggressive towards beetles than healthy ants, allowing beetles to eat the parasitized ants alive without interruption. Moreover, behavioural assays and chemical analysis reveal that M. xipe are attracted to the ant's alarm pheromone, the same secretion used by the phorid fly parasitoids in host location. This strategy allows beetles access to an abundant but otherwise inaccessible resource, as A. sericeasur ants are typically highly aggressive. These results are the first, to our knowledge, to demonstrate a predator sharing cues with a parasitoid to gain access to an otherwise unavailable prey item. Furthermore, this work highlights the importance of studying ant -myrmecophile interactions beyond just their pairwise context.

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“…Consider, for example, plant communities in which the constituent species tend to expand in space through seed dispersal but are attacked by natural enemies in a density-dependent fashion according to the Janzen/Connell effect (61)(62)(63). It can be shown that such an arrangement will result in the clumping of organisms even in a uniform environment (64). Because of the dynamic interplay of seed dispersal and density-dependent control, any given clump is expected to go locally extinct over the long run.…”

Section: The Matrix Quality Modelmentioning

confidence: 99%

The agroecological matrix as alternative to the land-sparing/agriculture intensification model

Perfecto

Vandermeer²

2010

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

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569

392

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Among the myriad complications involved in the current food crisis, the relationship between agriculture and the rest of nature is one of the most important yet remains only incompletely analyzed. Particularly in tropical areas, agriculture is frequently seen as the antithesis of the natural world, where the problem is framed as one of minimizing land devoted to agriculture so as to devote more to conservation of biodiversity and other ecosystem services. In particular, the "forest transition model" projects an overly optimistic vision of a future where increased agricultural intensification (to produce more per hectare) and/or increased rural-to-urban migration (to reduce the rural population that cuts forest for agriculture) suggests a near future of much tropical aforestation and higher agricultural production. Reviewing recent developments in ecological theory (showing the importance of migration between fragments and local extinction rates) coupled with empirical evidence, we argue that there is little to suggest that the forest transition model is useful for tropical areas, at least under current sociopolitical structures. A model that incorporates the agricultural matrix as an integral component of conservation programs is proposed. Furthermore, we suggest that this model will be most successful within a framework of small-scale agroecological production.food crisis | biodiversity | fragmented landscapes | matrix quality | smallscale farmers

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Clusters of ant colonies and robust criticality in a tropical agroecosystem

Cited by 117 publications

References 18 publications

Aggregations of unrelatedApis floreacolonies

Aggregations of unrelatedApis floreacolonies

Dead ant walking: a myrmecophilous beetle predator uses parasitoid host location cues to selectively prey on parasitized ants

The agroecological matrix as alternative to the land-sparing/agriculture intensification model

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