Pollen adaptation to ant pollination: a case study from the Proteaceae

Delnevo, Nicola; Etten, Eddie van; Clemente, Nicola; Fogu, Luna; Pavarani, Evelina; Byrne, Margaret; Stock, William D.

doi:10.1093/aob/mcaa058

Cited by 41 publications

(19 citation statements)

References 54 publications

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“…Metapleural glands are an ant innovation that has been lost repeatedly and is absent in Camponotus (Yek and Mueller, 2011), the most abundant visitors of E. triandra. Indeed, Camponotus ants in our study did not reduce pollen germinability, in agreement with results reported for other Camponotus species (Delnevo et al, 2020, but see de Vega et al, 2009, for a counterexample) including in E. foeminea, where an actual increase in pollen germinability was observed after contact with these ants (Bolinder et al, 2016). Moreover, species of Camponotus have been frequently associated with pollination in dry habitats (de Vega et al, 2014;Del-Claro et al, 2019).…”

Section: Ant Species-specific Traits Promote Pollinationsupporting

confidence: 93%

“…The most widespread form of ant-plant mutualistic interactions are defensive mutualisms, where ants consume extrafloral nectar (EFN) and protect plants from herbivores (Marazzi et al, 2013). Ant pollination, where floral nectar is offered as a reward in exchange for the pollination service, is rarer (e.g., Peakall and Beattie, 1991;Del-Claro et al, 2019;Delnevo et al, 2020). On the one hand, ants have been traditionally considered poor pollinators because of the presence of metapleural gland secretions on their integument that negatively affect pollen viability (Beattie et al, 1984) and due to their limited movement, since wingless foragers only visit resources near their nest (Faegri and van der Pijl, 1979;Domingos-Melo et al, 2017).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Distance Dependent Contribution of Ants to Pollination but Not Defense in a Dioecious, Ambophilous Gymnosperm

et al. 2021

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Dioecious plants are obligate outcrossers with separate male and female individuals, which can result in decreased seed set with increasing distance between the sexes. Wind pollination is a common correlate of dioecy, yet combined wind and insect pollination (ambophily) could be advantageous in compensating for decreased pollen flow to isolated females. Dioecious, ambophilous gymnosperms Ephedra (Gnetales) secrete pollination drops (PDs) in female cones that capture airborne pollen and attract ants that feed on them. Plant sugary secretions commonly reward ants in exchange for indirect plant defense against herbivores, and more rarely for pollination. We conducted field experiments to investigate whether ants are pollinators and/or plant defenders of South American Ephedra triandra, and whether their contribution to seed set and seed cone protection varies with distance between female and male plants. We quantified pollen flow in the wind and assessed the effectiveness of ants as pollinators by investigating their relative contribution to seed set, and their visitation rate in female plants at increasing distance from the nearest male. Ants accounted for most insect visits to female cones of E. triandra, where they consumed PDs, and pollen load was larger on bigger ants without reduction in pollen viability. While wind pollination was the main contributor to seed set overall, the relative contribution of ants was distance dependent. Ant contribution to seed set was not significant at shorter distances, yet at the farthest distance from the nearest male (23 m), where 20 times less pollen reached females, ants enhanced seed set by 30% compared to plants depending solely on wind pollination. We found no evidence that ants contribute to plant defense by preventing seed cone damage. Our results suggest that, despite their short-range movements, ants can offset pollen limitation in isolated females of wind-pollinated plants with separate sexes. We propose that ants enhance plant reproductive success via targeted delivery of airborne pollen, through frequent contact with ovule tips while consuming PDs. Our study constitutes the first experimental quantification of distance-dependent contribution of ants to pollination and provides a working hypothesis for ambophily in other dioecious plants lacking pollinator reward in male plants.

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Section: Ant Species-specific Traits Promote Pollinationsupporting

confidence: 93%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Distance Dependent Contribution of Ants to Pollination but Not Defense in a Dioecious, Ambophilous Gymnosperm

et al. 2021

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“…While ants were clearly the most abundant visitors to the nipa flowers at MBC, until recently their role as pollinator has been downplayed in the scientific literature. Ants produce an J Poll Ecol 27(5) antimicrobial secretion that can reduce pollen viability (Beattie et al 1985), and this negative role in pollination has been widely assumed to be the norm until recently, as a growing number of studies have demonstrated effective pollination by ant species in some plants (Hickman 1974;Rostás & Tautz 2011;De Vega & Gomez 2014;Domingos-Melo et al 2017;Delnevo et al 2020). The ant species found on our nipa palms, Paratrechina longicornis, is widespread in the U.S. and does not appear to be a newcomer to South Florida.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Pollination of <i>Nypa fruticans</i> (Wurmb.) in a South Florida botanic garden

Valdes

Lima²,

Noblick³

2021

J Poll Ecol

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When plants are removed from their native habitat, reproduction can be compromised if pollinators are absent, especially when plant-pollinator interactions are species-specific and the plant is self-incompatible. To avoid these pitfalls, botanic gardens often use hand pollination to ensure reproductive success of their living collections, an important aspect of ex-situ conservation. The nipa palm, Nypa fruticans, presents an interesting case study of pollination in a botanic garden and a plant’s ability to successfully reproduce outside its native range without assisted pollination. Nypa fruticans has been growing at Montgomery Botanical Center (MBC) in South Florida since 1984, but for years required hand pollination to produce viable fruit. A recent shift from hand pollination to unassisted pollination suggests that this palm has found an alternative to fertilize its flowers. We investigate possible pollinators and new opportunities for pollination outside the palm’s native range. Rather than the insects typically associated with N. fruticans pollination in its native range in Southeast Asia (i.e., flies and beetles), ants, specifically Paratrechina longicornis, were overwhelmingly the most abundant visitors to nipa palm inflorescences at MBC and likely represent an important pollinator or facilitator of pollination at the garden. Pollination research at botanic gardens complements in-situ field studies and provides important insights into the flexibility of pollination systems to achieve reproductive success outside a plant’s native range.

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“…As a recent example of mutually beneficial relationships, Conospermum, a plant that has developed a way to use ants to its advantage, like the pollinators overcoming their antimicrobial defenses, a mechanism as effective as the action of native bees! (Stock et al, 2020) [57]. This is the first finding of such a cooperation mechanism, even if "it would be risky, in an evolutionary sense, for the plant to rely only on the native bee for pollination" say the authors.…”

Section: The Evolutionary Taxonomy Of Cognitive Controlmentioning

confidence: 94%

Electrome & Cognition Modes in Plants: A Transdisciplinary Approach to the Eco-Sensitiveness of the World

Debono¹

2020

tjes

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Recent studies on plant-environment and plant-human relationships reveal the need to reassess thescales of perception, sensitiveness and cognition of living systems. The complexity of plant's emergingbehaviors in interaction with the environment is supported by the signature of the electrome and theplant sensorium, a strong argument to establish the singularity of the living and weights its consequencesin evolutionary, ecological or socioeconomic terms. This paper highlights the cognitive value of access tothe experience of plants and its fundamentally mesological or ecoplastic nature, that is to say in directconnection with a singular milieu. This dynamic coupling makes it possible to explain the co-construction ofan intelligible and sensible world without the use of a brain, principle that reframes the concept of intelligentbehavior while revealing both the frontiers in cognition and the strong transdisciplinary challenges of anacute awareness of the man's fragility as of the planetary ecosystem at the era of the Antropocene.

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Pollen adaptation to ant pollination: a case study from the Proteaceae

Cited by 41 publications

References 54 publications

Distance Dependent Contribution of Ants to Pollination but Not Defense in a Dioecious, Ambophilous Gymnosperm

Distance Dependent Contribution of Ants to Pollination but Not Defense in a Dioecious, Ambophilous Gymnosperm

Pollination of <i>Nypa fruticans</i> (Wurmb.) in a South Florida botanic garden

Electrome & Cognition Modes in Plants: A Transdisciplinary Approach to the Eco-Sensitiveness of the World

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