Nectar Theft and Floral Ant-Repellence: A Link between Nectar Volume and Ant-Repellent Traits?

Ballantyne, Gavin; Willmer, Pat

Abstract

As flower visitors, ants rarely benefit a plant. They are poor pollinators, and can also disrupt pollination by deterring other flower visitors, or by stealing nectar. Some plant species therefore possess floral ant-repelling traits. But why do particular species have such traits when others do not? In a dry forest in Costa Rica, of 49 plant species around a third were ant-repellent at very close proximity to a common generalist ant species, usually via repellent pollen. Repellence was positively correlated with the presence of large nectar volumes. Repellent traits affected ant species differently, some influencing the behaviour of just a few species and others producing more generalised ant-repellence. Our results suggest that ant-repellent floral traits may often not be pleiotropic, but instead could have been selected for as a defence against ant thieves in plant species that invest in large volumes of nectar. This conclusion highlights to the importance of research into the cost of nectar production in future studies into ant-flower interactions.

Citation

Ballantyne, G., & Willmer, P. (2012). Nectar Theft and Floral Ant-Repellence: A Link between Nectar Volume and Ant-Repellent Traits?. PLOS ONE, 7(8), Article e43869. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0043869

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Jul 26, 2012
• Online Publication Date: Aug 29, 2012
• Publication Date: Aug 29, 2012
• Deposit Date: Oct 18, 2017
• Publicly Available Date: Oct 18, 2017
• Journal: PLoS ONE
• Print ISSN: 1932-6203
• Publisher: Public Library of Science
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 7
• Issue: 8
• Article Number: e43869
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0043869
• Keywords: ant-plant interactions, ant-repellence, floral larceny, nectar, pollination
• Public URL: http://researchrepository.napier.ac.uk/Output/828066