%0 Journal Article
%T Mechanisms driving the specificity of a myrmecophyte-ant association
%A Grangier, J.
%A Dejean, A.
%A Male, P.J.G.
%A Solano, P.J.
%A Orivel, J.
%J Biological Journal of the Linnean Society
%D 2009
%V 97
%N 1
%I WILEY-BLACKWELL PUBLISHING, INC
%@ 0024-4066
%F Grangier_etal2009
%O ISI:000265406800008
%O exported from refbase (http://php.ecofog.gf/refbase/show.php?record=114), last updated on Wed, 04 May 2011 11:46:08 -0300
%X In the understory of pristine Guianese forests, the myrmecophyte Hirtella physophora almost exclusively shelters colonies of the plant-ant Allomerus decemarticulatus in its leaf pouches. We experimentally tested three non-mutually exclusive hypotheses concerning phenomena that can determine the species specificity of this association throughout the foundation stage of the colonies: (1) interspecific competition results in the overwhelming presence of A. decemarticulatus queens or incipient colonies; (2) exclusion filters prevent other ant species from entering the leaf pouches; and (3) host-recognition influences the choice of founding queens, especially A. decemarticulatus. Neither interspecific competition, nor the purported exclusion filters that we examined play a major role in maintaining the specificity of this association. Unexpectedly, the plant trichomes lining the domatia appear to serve as construction material during claustral foundation rather than as a filter. Finally, A. decemarticulatus queens are able to identify their host plant from a distance through chemical and/or visual cues, which is rarely demonstrated in studies on obligatory ant-plant associations. We discuss the possibility that this specific host-recognition ability could participate in shaping a compartmentalized plant-ant community where direct competition between ant symbionts is limited. (C) 2009 The Linnean Society of London, Biological Journal of the Linnean Society, 2009, 97, 90-97.
%K Allomerus decemarticulatus
%K exclusion filters
%K Hirtella physophora
%K horizontal transmission
%K host recognition
%K mutualism
%P 90-97