Obligate plant farming by a specialized ant

@article{Chomicki2016ObligatePF,
  title={Obligate plant farming by a specialized ant},
  author={Guillaume Chomicki and Susanne S. Renner},
  journal={Nature Plants},
  year={2016},
  volume={2}
}
Many epiphytic plants have associated with ants to gain nutrients. Here, we report a novel type of ant–plant symbiosis in Fiji where one ant species actively and exclusively plants the seeds and fertilizes the seedlings of six species of Squamellaria (Rubiaceae). Comparison with related facultative ant plants suggests that such farming plays a key role in mutualism stability by mitigating the critical re-establishment step. 
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27 Citations
Background Citations
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Methods Citations
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Results Citations
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27 Citations

Farming by ants remodels nutrient uptake in epiphytes.

This study shows that specialised ants actively and exclusively fertilise hyperabsorptive warts on the inner walls of plant-formed structures where they nest, sharply contrasting with nitrogen provisioning by ants in nonfarming generalist symbioses.

The evolution of plant cultivation by ants.

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Evidence is provided that the fungi are connected endophytically to an ant-plant system and actively transfer nitrogen from 15N-labelling solution to the plant's stem tissues and insight is provided into the possibly important nutritional aspects and tradeoffs involved in myrmecophyte-ant mutualisms.

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A CASE FOR STUDYING BIOTIC INTERACTIONS IN EPIPHYTE ECOLOGY AND EVOLUTION

Squamellaria : Plants domesticated by ants

Plants across 50 families have evolved modified structures to host ants in return for defense or nutrients—sometimes both (Chomicki & Renner, 2015). Recently some astounding discoveries have been…

Tradeoffs in the evolution of plant farming by ants

An obligate farming mutualism between the ant Philidris nagasau and epiphytic plants in the genus Squamellaria that are cultivated for their nesting sites and floral rewards found that ants benefited from cultivating plants in full sun, receiving 7.5-fold more floral food rewards compared to shade-cultivated plants.

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These analyses support both predictions, namely that stem diameter change is tied to symbiosis evolution (ant-nesting structures), while leaf size is independently correlated with rainfall variables, and highlights how independent and divergent selective pressures can alter allometry.

Genome‐wide transcriptome signatures of ant‐farmed Squamellaria epiphytes reveal key functions in a unique symbiosis

Abstract Farming of fungi by ants, termites, or beetles has led to ecologically successful societies fueled by industrial‐scale food production. Another type of obligate insect agriculture in Fiji…

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