Nocturnal resource defence in aphid-tending ants of northern Patagonia
- Autores
- Farji Brener, Alejandro Gustavo; Lescano, María Natalia; Gianoli, Ernesto
- Año de publicación
- 2013
- Idioma
- inglés
- Tipo de recurso
- artículo
- Estado
- versión publicada
- Descripción
- Interspecific competition plays a key role in the organisation of ant communities. In ant–plant interactions, individual host plants are usually occupied by a single ant colony, and co-occurring ant species compete for hosts. Here indirect evidence of competition between three dominant ant species that tend aphids on two biennial thistles in northern Patagonia is described, and a novel defensive behaviour in temperate ant assemblages is reported. This study has found that: (i) dominant ant species were not spatially segregated, thus enhancing the probability of fights and invasions of host plants; (ii) ant species did not show preferences for a thistle species or for any plant characteristic, and thus all plants have similar chances of being colonised by all dominant ant species; (iii) the resident ant species remained on the same plant during the whole plant life cycle, monopolising plant resources (aphids); and (iv) all dominant species, whose nests are on the ground, assigned some ants to stay on the host plant during the night, when the low temperatures typical of this temperate environment greatly reduce foraging activities. When these ‘nocturnal guards’ were experimentally removed from the host plant, other ants from the same colony rapidly appeared showing aggressive behaviours. Taking all these findings together, it is suggested that interspecific competition influences the distribution of ants on their host plants and involves nocturnal defensive behaviours despite unfavourable thermal conditions. This illustrates how habitat features, such as the short life cycle of thistles and the low night-time temperatures that reduce ant foraging and thus make plants more vulnerable to invasion, might affect the distribution and behaviour of ants.
Fil: Farji Brener, Alejandro Gustavo. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Patagonia Norte. Instituto de Investigación en Biodiversidad y Medioambiente; Argentina
Fil: Lescano, María Natalia. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Patagonia Norte. Instituto de Investigación en Biodiversidad y Medioambiente; Argentina
Fil: Gianoli, Ernesto. Universidad de la Serena; Chile. Universidad de Concepción; Chile - Materia
-
Ant Communities
Aphids
Competition
Defensive Behaviour
Temperate Regions
Thsitles - Nivel de accesibilidad
- acceso abierto
- Condiciones de uso
- https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.5/ar/
- Repositorio
- Institución
- Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas
- OAI Identificador
- oai:ri.conicet.gov.ar:11336/6698
Ver los metadatos del registro completo
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Nocturnal resource defence in aphid-tending ants of northern PatagoniaFarji Brener, Alejandro GustavoLescano, María NataliaGianoli, ErnestoAnt CommunitiesAphidsCompetitionDefensive BehaviourTemperate RegionsThsitleshttps://purl.org/becyt/ford/1.6https://purl.org/becyt/ford/1Interspecific competition plays a key role in the organisation of ant communities. In ant–plant interactions, individual host plants are usually occupied by a single ant colony, and co-occurring ant species compete for hosts. Here indirect evidence of competition between three dominant ant species that tend aphids on two biennial thistles in northern Patagonia is described, and a novel defensive behaviour in temperate ant assemblages is reported. This study has found that: (i) dominant ant species were not spatially segregated, thus enhancing the probability of fights and invasions of host plants; (ii) ant species did not show preferences for a thistle species or for any plant characteristic, and thus all plants have similar chances of being colonised by all dominant ant species; (iii) the resident ant species remained on the same plant during the whole plant life cycle, monopolising plant resources (aphids); and (iv) all dominant species, whose nests are on the ground, assigned some ants to stay on the host plant during the night, when the low temperatures typical of this temperate environment greatly reduce foraging activities. When these ‘nocturnal guards’ were experimentally removed from the host plant, other ants from the same colony rapidly appeared showing aggressive behaviours. Taking all these findings together, it is suggested that interspecific competition influences the distribution of ants on their host plants and involves nocturnal defensive behaviours despite unfavourable thermal conditions. This illustrates how habitat features, such as the short life cycle of thistles and the low night-time temperatures that reduce ant foraging and thus make plants more vulnerable to invasion, might affect the distribution and behaviour of ants.Fil: Farji Brener, Alejandro Gustavo. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Patagonia Norte. Instituto de Investigación en Biodiversidad y Medioambiente; ArgentinaFil: Lescano, María Natalia. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Patagonia Norte. Instituto de Investigación en Biodiversidad y Medioambiente; ArgentinaFil: Gianoli, Ernesto. Universidad de la Serena; Chile. Universidad de Concepción; ChileWiley2013-12info:eu-repo/semantics/articleinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersionhttp://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_6501info:ar-repo/semantics/articuloapplication/pdfapplication/pdfapplication/pdfapplication/pdfhttp://hdl.handle.net/11336/6698Farji Brener, Alejandro Gustavo; Lescano, María Natalia; Gianoli, Ernesto; Nocturnal resource defence in aphid-tending ants of northern Patagonia; Wiley; Ecological Entomology; 39; 2; 12-2013; 203-2090307-6946enginfo:eu-repo/semantics/altIdentifier/url/http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/een.12081/abstractinfo:eu-repo/semantics/altIdentifier/doi/10.1111/een.12081info:eu-repo/semantics/altIdentifier/doi/info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccesshttps://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.5/ar/reponame:CONICET Digital (CONICET)instname:Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas2025-09-29T09:39:33Zoai:ri.conicet.gov.ar:11336/6698instacron:CONICETInstitucionalhttp://ri.conicet.gov.ar/Organismo científico-tecnológicoNo correspondehttp://ri.conicet.gov.ar/oai/requestdasensio@conicet.gov.ar; lcarlino@conicet.gov.arArgentinaNo correspondeNo correspondeNo correspondeopendoar:34982025-09-29 09:39:33.318CONICET Digital (CONICET) - Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicasfalse |
dc.title.none.fl_str_mv |
Nocturnal resource defence in aphid-tending ants of northern Patagonia |
title |
Nocturnal resource defence in aphid-tending ants of northern Patagonia |
spellingShingle |
Nocturnal resource defence in aphid-tending ants of northern Patagonia Farji Brener, Alejandro Gustavo Ant Communities Aphids Competition Defensive Behaviour Temperate Regions Thsitles |
title_short |
Nocturnal resource defence in aphid-tending ants of northern Patagonia |
title_full |
Nocturnal resource defence in aphid-tending ants of northern Patagonia |
title_fullStr |
Nocturnal resource defence in aphid-tending ants of northern Patagonia |
title_full_unstemmed |
Nocturnal resource defence in aphid-tending ants of northern Patagonia |
title_sort |
Nocturnal resource defence in aphid-tending ants of northern Patagonia |
dc.creator.none.fl_str_mv |
Farji Brener, Alejandro Gustavo Lescano, María Natalia Gianoli, Ernesto |
author |
Farji Brener, Alejandro Gustavo |
author_facet |
Farji Brener, Alejandro Gustavo Lescano, María Natalia Gianoli, Ernesto |
author_role |
author |
author2 |
Lescano, María Natalia Gianoli, Ernesto |
author2_role |
author author |
dc.subject.none.fl_str_mv |
Ant Communities Aphids Competition Defensive Behaviour Temperate Regions Thsitles |
topic |
Ant Communities Aphids Competition Defensive Behaviour Temperate Regions Thsitles |
purl_subject.fl_str_mv |
https://purl.org/becyt/ford/1.6 https://purl.org/becyt/ford/1 |
dc.description.none.fl_txt_mv |
Interspecific competition plays a key role in the organisation of ant communities. In ant–plant interactions, individual host plants are usually occupied by a single ant colony, and co-occurring ant species compete for hosts. Here indirect evidence of competition between three dominant ant species that tend aphids on two biennial thistles in northern Patagonia is described, and a novel defensive behaviour in temperate ant assemblages is reported. This study has found that: (i) dominant ant species were not spatially segregated, thus enhancing the probability of fights and invasions of host plants; (ii) ant species did not show preferences for a thistle species or for any plant characteristic, and thus all plants have similar chances of being colonised by all dominant ant species; (iii) the resident ant species remained on the same plant during the whole plant life cycle, monopolising plant resources (aphids); and (iv) all dominant species, whose nests are on the ground, assigned some ants to stay on the host plant during the night, when the low temperatures typical of this temperate environment greatly reduce foraging activities. When these ‘nocturnal guards’ were experimentally removed from the host plant, other ants from the same colony rapidly appeared showing aggressive behaviours. Taking all these findings together, it is suggested that interspecific competition influences the distribution of ants on their host plants and involves nocturnal defensive behaviours despite unfavourable thermal conditions. This illustrates how habitat features, such as the short life cycle of thistles and the low night-time temperatures that reduce ant foraging and thus make plants more vulnerable to invasion, might affect the distribution and behaviour of ants. Fil: Farji Brener, Alejandro Gustavo. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Patagonia Norte. Instituto de Investigación en Biodiversidad y Medioambiente; Argentina Fil: Lescano, María Natalia. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Patagonia Norte. Instituto de Investigación en Biodiversidad y Medioambiente; Argentina Fil: Gianoli, Ernesto. Universidad de la Serena; Chile. Universidad de Concepción; Chile |
description |
Interspecific competition plays a key role in the organisation of ant communities. In ant–plant interactions, individual host plants are usually occupied by a single ant colony, and co-occurring ant species compete for hosts. Here indirect evidence of competition between three dominant ant species that tend aphids on two biennial thistles in northern Patagonia is described, and a novel defensive behaviour in temperate ant assemblages is reported. This study has found that: (i) dominant ant species were not spatially segregated, thus enhancing the probability of fights and invasions of host plants; (ii) ant species did not show preferences for a thistle species or for any plant characteristic, and thus all plants have similar chances of being colonised by all dominant ant species; (iii) the resident ant species remained on the same plant during the whole plant life cycle, monopolising plant resources (aphids); and (iv) all dominant species, whose nests are on the ground, assigned some ants to stay on the host plant during the night, when the low temperatures typical of this temperate environment greatly reduce foraging activities. When these ‘nocturnal guards’ were experimentally removed from the host plant, other ants from the same colony rapidly appeared showing aggressive behaviours. Taking all these findings together, it is suggested that interspecific competition influences the distribution of ants on their host plants and involves nocturnal defensive behaviours despite unfavourable thermal conditions. This illustrates how habitat features, such as the short life cycle of thistles and the low night-time temperatures that reduce ant foraging and thus make plants more vulnerable to invasion, might affect the distribution and behaviour of ants. |
publishDate |
2013 |
dc.date.none.fl_str_mv |
2013-12 |
dc.type.none.fl_str_mv |
info:eu-repo/semantics/article info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion http://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_6501 info:ar-repo/semantics/articulo |
format |
article |
status_str |
publishedVersion |
dc.identifier.none.fl_str_mv |
http://hdl.handle.net/11336/6698 Farji Brener, Alejandro Gustavo; Lescano, María Natalia; Gianoli, Ernesto; Nocturnal resource defence in aphid-tending ants of northern Patagonia; Wiley; Ecological Entomology; 39; 2; 12-2013; 203-209 0307-6946 |
url |
http://hdl.handle.net/11336/6698 |
identifier_str_mv |
Farji Brener, Alejandro Gustavo; Lescano, María Natalia; Gianoli, Ernesto; Nocturnal resource defence in aphid-tending ants of northern Patagonia; Wiley; Ecological Entomology; 39; 2; 12-2013; 203-209 0307-6946 |
dc.language.none.fl_str_mv |
eng |
language |
eng |
dc.relation.none.fl_str_mv |
info:eu-repo/semantics/altIdentifier/url/http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/een.12081/abstract info:eu-repo/semantics/altIdentifier/doi/10.1111/een.12081 info:eu-repo/semantics/altIdentifier/doi/ |
dc.rights.none.fl_str_mv |
info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.5/ar/ |
eu_rights_str_mv |
openAccess |
rights_invalid_str_mv |
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.5/ar/ |
dc.format.none.fl_str_mv |
application/pdf application/pdf application/pdf application/pdf |
dc.publisher.none.fl_str_mv |
Wiley |
publisher.none.fl_str_mv |
Wiley |
dc.source.none.fl_str_mv |
reponame:CONICET Digital (CONICET) instname:Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas |
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CONICET Digital (CONICET) |
collection |
CONICET Digital (CONICET) |
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Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas |
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CONICET Digital (CONICET) - Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas |
repository.mail.fl_str_mv |
dasensio@conicet.gov.ar; lcarlino@conicet.gov.ar |
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1844613251790274560 |
score |
13.070432 |