Extrafloral nectary-mediated ant-plant interactions in the coastal vegetation of Veracruz, Mexico: Richness, occurrence, seasonality, and ant foraging patterns

Díaz‐Castelazo, Cecilia; Rico-Gray, Víctor; Oliveira, Paulo S.; Cuautle, Mariana

doi:10.1080/11956860.2004.11682857

Cited by 86 publications

(100 citation statements)

References 24 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Unclassified

Order By: Relevance

“…The climate is warm sub-humid, and the annual precipitation average is 1,300 mm, 78 % of the total annual precipitation occurs during the rainy season, the mean annual temperature is 25 °C Kellman, 1990;Kellman and Roulet, 1990;Kavanagh and Kellman, 1992;Kellman and Delfosse, 1993;Rico-Gray, 1993;Díaz-Castelazo et al, 2004), 18 °C in coldest month and > 22 °C on warmest month . The study site is markedly seasonal (Rico-Gray and Oliveira, 2007;Díaz-Castelazo et al, 2010) with three distinctively different seasons, the dry season (FebruaryMay), the rainy season (June-September), the winter cold front season ("nortes", October-January).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In addition, community-level studies have been developed for extrafloral-nectary bearing plants (Rico-Gray, 1993;Díaz-Castelazo et al, 2004;Rico-Gray et al, 2012), pollination networks (Hernández-Yáñez et al, 2013), and also studies on phenology (Castillo and Carabias, 1982;Mehltreter, 2006). Despite the wide range of studies that have been conducted in La Mancha there are not investigations with a focus at the level of the plant community and further considering reproductive effort.…”

Section: Cristian Adrian Martínez-adriano Et Almentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Floristic survey of flowering plants in a tropical coastal ecosystem in Veracruz, Mexico

2016

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Abstract:Mexico is a megadiverse country and Veracruz is one of the states with the highest floristic diversity. The reserve of La Mancha in central coastal Veracruz comprises several vegetation types. In this site we conducted for a year, monthly surveys of flowering or fruiting plants in six vegetation types, considering the frequency of occurrence of different species. We found a total of 147 species (131 genera and 63 families). The families most represented were Asteraceae, Fabaceae and Verbenaceae. In addition, we found nine species that had not been reported in previous floristic studies. The highest taxonomic richness was observed in the tropical deciduous flood forest with wetland (59 species), while the highest diversity was found in tropical deciduous forest (SDI = 0.9562). We also found that the most similar vegetation types based on the composition and frequency of species were, coastal dune scrub, tropical deciduous forest and pioneer dune vegetation. The dominant plant biological form in La Mancha were herbs (40.41 %) followed by shrubs (23.97 %), vines-lianas (18.49 %) and trees (17.12 %). This study is the first to consider the frequency-occurrence of flowering and fruiting plants in La Mancha, covering six vegetation types through one year. The more relevant results of this study show the diversity of plants in different environments using the frequency of each species based on reproductive events. This information could be useful in future researches that evaluate plant-animal interactions, like pollination and seed dispersal. Key words: floristic, flowering plants, fruiting plants, La Mancha, Veracruz.Resumen: México es considerado un país megadiverso y Veracruz es uno de los estados con mayor diversidad florística del país. La reserva de La Mancha en la costa central de Veracruz alberga varios tipos de vegetación. En este sitio realizamos durante un año censos mensuales de la vegetación en floración o fructificación en seis tipos de vegetación, considerando la frecuencia de aparición de las diferentes especies de plantas. Encontramos en total 147 especies (131 géneros y 63 familias). Las familias mejor representadas fueron Asteraceae, Fabaceae y Verbenaceae. Además de nueve especies que no habían sido reportadas en estudios florísticos previos. La mayor riqueza taxonómica se observó en la selva baja inundable y el humedal (59 especies), mientras que, la mayor diversidad se encontró en la selva baja caducifolia (SDI = 0.9562). Además encontramos que los tipos vegetación más similares con base a la composición y frecuencia de especies son el matorral de dunas costeras, la selva baja caducifolia y la vegetación pionera de dunas. La forma biológica predominante en La Mancha fueron las hierbas (40.41 %), seguida por arbustos (23.97 %), bejucos-lianas (18.49 %) y árboles (17.12 %). Este trabajo es el primero que analiza la frecuencia-ocurrencia de plantas con flor y/o fruto en La Mancha, abarcando seis tipos de vegetación. Los resultados más destacados muestran la diversidad de plantas en diferent...

show abstract

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Cristian Adrian Martínez-adriano Et Almentioning

confidence: 99%

Floristic survey of flowering plants in a tropical coastal ecosystem in Veracruz, Mexico

2016

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…In a given tropical community, dozens of nectar-producing plant species may interact with ants (Díaz-Castelazo et al 2004). These interactions are often defensive mutualisms, in which the ants protect plants against their natural enemies and plants reward ants with nectar (Rico-Gray et al 1998b).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Asymmetries in specialization in ant–plant mutualistic networks

et al. 2006

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Mutualistic networks involving plants and their pollinators or frugivores have been shown recently to exhibit a particular asymmetrical organization of interactions among species called nestedness: a core of reciprocal generalists accompanied by specialist species that interact almost exclusively with generalists. This structure contrasts with compartmentalized assemblage structures that have been verified in antagonistic food webs. Here we evaluated whether nestedness is a property of another type of mutualism-the interactions between ants and extrafloral nectary-bearing plants-and whether species richness may lead to differences in degree of nestedness among biological communities. We investigated network structure in four communities in Mexico. Nested patterns in ant-plant networks were very similar to those previously reported for pollination and frugivore systems, indicating that this form of asymmetry in specialization is a common feature of mutualisms between free-living species, but not always present in species-poor systems. Other ecological factors also appeared to contribute to the nested asymmetry in specialization, because some assemblages showed more extreme asymmetry than others even when species richness was held constant. Our results support a promising approach for the development of multispecies coevolutionary theory, leading to the idea that specialization may coevolve in different but simple ways in antagonistic and mutualistic assemblages.

show abstract

“…Finally, this study is important to understand implications of the anatomy and location of EFNs on the ecological outcomes of the associated community of nectar-foraging arthropods, like ant-plant interactions, or others consumers like parasitoids, wasps, spiders, mites, bugs and small beetles (HEIL, 2015). Since these secretory structures partly determine nectar quality and secretory rates (higher in vascularized glands, than in disperse secretory trichomes) or production of jasmonic acid (DÍAZ-CASTELAZO et al, 2005;HEIL, 2015), they may also promote different antassemblages of species with distinct behaviors and defensive potentials) (DÍAZ-CASTELAZO et al, 2004). In specific cases of constant, intense interaction, ant foragers and its defensive traits may serve as selective agents of EFN anatomy, location and secretory activity.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Structure and histology of extrafloral nectaries of tropical species in a mexican rain forest

Rodríguez-Morales¹,

Aguirre²,

Coates‐Estrada³

et al. 2016

Biosci. J.

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Extrafloral nectary-mediated ant-plant interactions in the coastal vegetation of Veracruz, Mexico: Richness, occurrence, seasonality, and ant foraging patterns

Cited by 86 publications

References 24 publications

Floristic survey of flowering plants in a tropical coastal ecosystem in Veracruz, Mexico

Floristic survey of flowering plants in a tropical coastal ecosystem in Veracruz, Mexico

Asymmetries in specialization in ant–plant mutualistic networks

Structure and histology of extrafloral nectaries of tropical species in a mexican rain forest

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About