Infestation by pollination-disrupting alien ants varies temporally and spatially and is worsened by alien plant invasion

Bissessur, Prishnee; Baider, Cláudia; Florens, F. B. Vincent

doi:10.1007/s10530-020-02272-y

Cited by 9 publications

(11 citation statements)

References 63 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Ants, though sometimes help in pollinating owers of some species [28][29][30][31] have a complex interaction with the plants 14 . This interaction has a narrow cost-bene t border 15 .…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…We found that ants negatively in uenced most crucial visitation characters of the pollinators. However, concluding from this is quite complicated as the interactions between ants, plants, other herbivores, and pollinators are quite complex 14 . Unlike many of the previous studies, we compared the competition offered by invasive ants and native ants on the pollinators.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Argentine ant (Linepithema humile) displaced native seed dispersers of myrmecochorous plant, Dendromecon rigida, decreased the seed dispersal, and increased seed predation 12 . There are cases when invasive ant interactions contribute to plant tness as well 13,14 . However, the cost-bene t balance of such interactions are subtle and often result in negative repercussions 15 .…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

Native and Invasive Ants Affect Floral Visits of Pollinating Honey Bees in Pumpkin Flowers (Cucurbita Maxima)

Unni

Mir

Rajesh

et al. 2020

Preprint

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Global pollinator decline is a major concern. Several factors – climate change, land-use change, the decline of flowers, pesticide use, invasive species – have been suggested as the reasons. The effect of ants on flowers, despite being a potential reason, received less attention. The consequences of ants being attracted to nectar sources in plants vary depending upon factors like the position of the nectar source, the identity of ants, and other mutualists interacting with the plants. We studied the interaction between floral ants and pollinators in Cucurbita maxima and compared the competition exerted by native and invasive ants on the pollinator with the hypothesis that the invasive ants exacerbate more interference competition for pollinators than native ants. The pollinator’s choice, visitation rate and time spent/visit were assessed. 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 native ants did. Ants despite performing pollination in flowers with generalist pollination syndrome, can be a threat for plant-pollinator mutualism in specialists like monoecious plants. A better understanding of factors influencing pollination will help in implementing better management practices.

show abstract

“…Ants, though sometimes help in pollinating owers of some species [28][29][30][31] have a complex interaction with the plants 14 . This interaction has a narrow cost-bene t border 15 .…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Native and Invasive Ants Affect Floral Visits of Pollinating Honey Bees in Pumpkin Flowers (Cucurbita Maxima)

Unni

Mir

Rajesh

et al. 2020

Preprint

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…For example, introduced ants (e.g. Anoplolepis gracilipes ) in Mauritius prevent native geckos ( Phelsuma cepediana ) from pollinating endemic Roussea simplex flowers in areas where the plants grow closer to the ground than elsewhere (Bissessur et al 2020); similarly, human disturbance such as light and noise pollution might be restricted to open areas such as river banks and be greatly reduced within closed forest. Variations in disturbance across the co‐occurrence range of interacting species may result in a complex pattern of variation in functionality of interactions (Fig.…”

Section: Taking Spatial and Temporal Variability In Interaction Efficmentioning

confidence: 99%

Conservation of species interactions to achieve self‐sustaining ecosystems

2020

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

A desirable goal of nature management is to re‐establish self‐sustaining ecosystems that ensure the persistence of natural habitats and species without requiring active management. Such self‐sustainability relies on functional species interactions; yet, species interactions are often overlooked in the conservation literature, and when designing species‐specific management efforts. Some interactions may not be restored under general management (e.g. land protection), and may require additional specific management interventions. Interventions targeting these specific interactions fall in a gap between general and species‐specific management, effectively bridging community‐ and population‐level approaches to conservation management. We propose that managers should explicitly identify cases where active management of specific interaction partners is required to achieve population self‐sustainability. In addition, they should ensure that general management interventions do not inadvertently conflict with naturally occurring interactions, potentially thwarting conservation targets. Interaction functionality may be restored by relying on native species and by identifying the spatial context in which interactions are most likely to re‐establish, considering distributional range overlap of interaction partners, local variation in individual encounter rate or even spatial variation in the expected success rate (efficiency) of the focal interaction.

show abstract

“…Among ants, the invasive ants have been particularly demonstrated to have a disruptive effect on plant-pollinator mutualism 20 , 23 , 24 , 29 – 33 . Invasive ants, because aggressive and competent in locating carbohydrate-rich sources in a short period, can occupy more flowers in more numbers, which can significantly reduce diversity, frequency, and foraging time of legitimate pollinators on flowers 12 , 34 – 36 .…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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

Unni

Mir

Rajesh

et al. 2021

Sci Rep

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

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.

show abstract

Infestation by pollination-disrupting alien ants varies temporally and spatially and is worsened by alien plant invasion

Cited by 9 publications

References 63 publications

Native and Invasive Ants Affect Floral Visits of Pollinating Honey Bees in Pumpkin Flowers (Cucurbita Maxima)

Native and Invasive Ants Affect Floral Visits of Pollinating Honey Bees in Pumpkin Flowers (Cucurbita Maxima)

Conservation of species interactions to achieve self‐sustaining ecosystems

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

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About