Preferences for sugars and amino acids and their conditionality in a diverse nectar‐feeding ant community

Blüthgen, Nico; Fiedler, Konrad

doi:10.1111/j.1365-2656.2004.00789.x

Cited by 208 publications

(175 citation statements)

References 63 publications

(130 reference statements)

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“…For example, in the Australian rainforests, Technomyrmex sp. (identified as albipes, but likely to be dificilis based on Bolton 2007) prefers some sugars over others and solutions containing amino acids to those with just sugars (Blüthgen and Fiedler 2004).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Contrasting effects of an invasive ant on a native and an invasive plant

2010

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When invasive species establish in new environments, they may disrupt existing or create new interactions with resident species. Understanding of the functioning of invaded ecosystems will benefit from careful investigation of resulting species-level interactions. We manipulated ant visitation to compare how invasive ant mutualisms affect two common plants, one native and one invasive, on a subtropical Indian Ocean island. Technomyrmex albipes, an introduced species, was the most common and abundant ant visitor to the plants. T. albipes were attracted to extrafloral nectaries on the invasive tree (Leucaena leucocephala) and deterred the plant's primary herbivore, the Leucaena psyllid (Heteropsylla cubana). Ant exclusion from L. leucocephala resulted in decreased plant growth and seed production by 22% and 35%, respectively. In contrast, on the native shrub (Scaevola taccada), T. albipes frequently tended sap-sucking hemipterans, and ant exclusion resulted in 30% and 23% increases in growth and fruit production, respectively. Stable isotope analysis confirmed the more predacious and herbivorous diets of T. albipes on the invasive and native plants, respectively. Thus the ants' interactions protect the invasive plant from its main herbivore while also exacerbating the effects of herbivores on the native plant. Ultimately, the negative effects on the native plant and positive effects on the invasive plant may work in concert to facilitate invasion by the invasive plant. Our findings underscore the importance of investigating facilitative interactions in a community context and the multiple and diverse interactions shaping novel ecosystems.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Contrasting effects of an invasive ant on a native and an invasive plant

2010

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“…8% fructose and 6% glucose in the 20% solution and 31% fructose and 25% glucose in the 80% solution) and small (mean = 0.053 g) and large (mean = 0.36 g) crickets. The sugars found in clover honey, glucose, and fructose are the main components of the honeydew and nectars exploited in natural communities (Blüthgen & Fiedler, 2004;Woodring et al, 2004) and the concentrations we used fall towards the ends of the spectrum found in nature (Blüthgen & Fiedler, 2004). The crickets were representative of the proteinaceous resources frequently exploited by ants.…”

Section: Experimental Designmentioning

confidence: 99%

Resource discovery in ant communities: do food type and quantity matter?

Pearce-Duvet

Feener

2010

Ecological Entomology

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Abstract. 1. Omnivorous woodland ant species trade off between the ability to find and behaviourally control food resources. Dominant species can limit the ability of subordinates to harvest certain food items. However, subordinate species, by being faster discoverers, could gain access to such food items by arriving at them first.2.In this study, we tested the hypothesis that resource-directed discovery occurs in ant communities and that good discoverers preferentially discover high value resources. We did this by measuring time to discovery and the number of discoveries of high and low levels of two resource types, crickets and honey, for species occurring in Texas and Arizona woodland ant communities.3. Ants discovered resources roughly 10 times faster in Texas than in Arizona. They discovered crickets more rapidly than honey in both communities, but there was no difference in the discovery of different resource levels. We also found that species were not biased in their discovery of different resource types or levels.4. These results provide indirect evidence that discovery is directed by resource stimuli but that such directedness does not impact interspecific exploitative competition.

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“…Ricks & Vinson (1970) found that Solenopsis saevissima richteri Forel (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) and S. invicta preferred sucrose over xylose, ribose, mannose, arabinose, and galactose. Sucrose was also often preferred by Anonychomyrma gilberti (Forel), Technomyrmex albipes (Smith), and Camponotus vitreus (Smith) (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) (Blüthgen & Fiedler 2004), whereas melezitose was preferred by several ant species and is important for ant-aphid relationships (Kiss 1981;Maurizio 1985;Völkl et al 1999).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…For instance, Lasius niger (L.) (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) workers preferred trisaccharides over disaccharides and monosaccharides when these sugars were offered in choice tests, and melezitose was the most effective in attracting ants (Völkl et al 1999). Previous studies also showed that the red imported fire ant, Solenopsis invicta Buren (Hymenoptera: Formicidae), had a specific preference for melezitose in laboratory and field tests (Zhou et al 2015), whereas it often preferred sucrose over fructose, glucose, maltose, melezitose, raffinose, and xylose in paired tests (Blüthgen & Fiedler 2004).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 98%