NDLI: Ant – seed mutualisms : can red imported fire ants sour the relationship ?

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Ant – seed mutualisms : can red imported fire ants sour the relationship ?

Content Provider	Semantic Scholar
Author	Zettler, Jennifer A. Spira, Timothy P. Allen, Craig
Copyright Year	2017
Abstract	Invasion by the red imported fire ant, Solenopsis invicta, has had negative impacts on individual animal and plant species, but little is known about how S. invicta affects complex mutualistic relationships. In some eastern forests of North America, 30% of herbaceous species have ant-dispersed seeds. We conducted experiments to determine if fire ants are attracted to seeds of these plant species and assessed the amount of scarification or damage that results from handling by fire ants. Fire ants removed nearly 100% of seeds of the ant-dispersed plants Trillium undulatum, T. discolor, T. catesbaei, Viola rotundifolia, and Sanguinaria canadensis. In recovered seeds fed to ant colonies, fire ants scarified 80% of S. canadensis seeds and destroyed 86% of V. rotundifolia seeds. Our study is the first to document that red imported fire ants are attracted to and remove seeds of species adapted for ant dispersal. Moreover, fire ants might damage these seeds and discard them in sites unfavorable for germination and seedling establishment. # 2001 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.
File Format	PDF HTM / HTML
Alternate Webpage(s)	http://digitalcommons.unl.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1002&context=ncfwrustaff
Language	English
Access Restriction	Open
Subject Keyword	Ant colony Ants Apache Ant (Another Neat Tool) Eighty Experiment Forests Germination Handling (Psychology) Peperomia rotundifolia Plant seeds Salix discolor Ab.IgE:ACnc:Pt:Ser:Qn Sanguinaria canadensis Seedlings Trillium Model Trillium foetidissimum Viola
Content Type	Text
Resource Type	Article

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