The effects of mutualistic ants on aphid life-history traits

Details

Serval ID
serval:BIB_A7B4ED16BE3D
Type
Article: article from journal or magazin.
Collection
Publications
Title
The effects of mutualistic ants on aphid life-history traits
Journal
Ecology
Author(s)
Flatt T., Weisser W.W.
ISSN
0012-9658
Publication state
Published
Issued date
2000
Peer-reviewed
Oui
Volume
81
Number
12
Pages
3522-3529
Language
english
Abstract
The relationship between homopterans and ants is generally thought to be mutualistic, as both partners seem to benefit from an association. In aphids, previous studies have shown that ant tending improves the survival and reproduction of aphid colonies, mainly by protection of aphids from enemy attack. However, the effects of ant tending on the fitness of individual aphids have rarely been addressed. We investigated the effects of ant tending on life history traits of aphids feeding singly on a host plant, in the absence of natural enemies. A factorial design allowed us to control for variation in the level of tending effort among individual ant colonies. The presence of workers of the ant Lasius niger had a strong positive effect on the fitness of individuals of the aphid Metopeurum fuscoviride. Ant-tended individuals lived longer, matured earlier, had a higher rate of reproduction, and a higher expected number of offspring than aphids not tended by ants. An aphid's longevity was significantly correlated with the daily mean number of workers tending it. The strong dependence of aphid fitness on the level of ant tending shows that ants can influence aphid life history traits even when aphids occur singly on plants.
Keywords
ant, ant tending, aphid, Homoptera, honeydew, Lasius niger, Metopeurum fuscoviride, mutualistic relationship, myrmecophily
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Create date
28/01/2013 13:42
Last modification date
20/08/2019 15:12
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