TY  - JOUR
AU  - Grangier, J.
AU  - Dejean, A.
AU  - Male, P.J.G.
AU  - Solano, P.J.
AU  - Orivel, J.
PY  - 2009//
TI  - Mechanisms driving the specificity of a myrmecophyte-ant association
T2  - Biol. J. Linnean Soc.
JO  - Biological Journal of the Linnean Society
SP  - 90
EP  - 97
VL  - 97
IS  - 1
PB  - WILEY-BLACKWELL PUBLISHING, INC
KW  - Allomerus decemarticulatus
KW  - exclusion filters
KW  - Hirtella physophora
KW  - horizontal transmission
KW  - host recognition
KW  - mutualism
N2  - 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.
SN  - 0024-4066
N1  - ISI:000265406800008
ID  - Grangier_etal2009
ER  -