| Title: | Plant species with larger extrafloral nectaries produce better quality nectar when needed and interact with the best ant partners |
| Author(s): | Alencar C; Nogueira A; Vicente RE; Coutinho IAC; |
| Address: | "Universidade Federal do Ceara, campus do Pici, Centro de Ciencias, Departamento de Biologia, Laboratorio de Morfoanatomia Funcional de Plantas, Programa de Pos-graduacao em Ecologia e Recursos Naturais, Fortaleza, CE, Brazil. Laboratorio de Interacoes Planta-Animal (LIPA), Centro de Ciencias Naturais e Humanas, Universidade Federal do ABC, Sao Bernardo do Campo, SP, Brazil. Instituto Nacional da Mata Atlantica, Ministerio da Ciencia, Tecnologia e Inovacoes, Santa Teresa, ES, Brazil" |
| ISSN/ISBN: | 1460-2431 (Electronic) 0022-0957 (Linking) |
| Abstract: | "Few studies have explored the phenotypic plasticity of nectar production on plant attractiveness to ants. Here, we investigate the role of extrafloral nectary (EFN) size on the productivity of extrafloral nectar in three sympatric legume species. We hypothesized that plant species with larger EFNs (i) have higher induced nectar secretion after herbivory events, and (ii) are more likely to interact with more protective (i.e. dominant) ant partners. We target 90 plants of three Chamaecrista species in the field. We estimated EFN size and conducted field experiments to evaluate any differences in nectar traits before and after leaf damage to investigate the phenotypic plasticity of nectar production across species. We conducted multiple censuses of ant species feeding on EFNs over time. Plant species increased nectar descriptors after leaf damage, but in different ways. Supporting our hypothesis, C. duckeana, with the largest EFN size, increased all nectar descriptors, with most intense post-herbivory-induced response, taking its place as the most attractive to ants, including dominant species. EFN size variation was an excellent indicator of nectar productivity across species. The higher control over reward production in plants with larger sized EFNs reflects an induction mechanism under damage that reduces costs and increases the potential benefits of indirect biotic defences" |
| Keywords: | Animals *Ants/physiology Plant Nectar Symbiosis Herbivory/physiology Plant Leaves/physiology Plants Ant-plant interactions Caatinga cost extrafloral nectar induced defence mutualisms; |
| Notes: | "MedlineAlencar, Cicero Luanderson da Silva Nogueira, Anselmo Vicente, Ricardo Eduardo Coutinho, Italo Antonio Cotta eng Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't England 2023/04/28 J Exp Bot. 2023 Aug 17; 74(15):4613-4627. doi: 10.1093/jxb/erad160" |
