Nectar in plant–insect mutualistic relationships: from food reward to partner manipulation

M Nepi, DA Grasso, S Mancuso - Frontiers in Plant Science, 2018 - frontiersin.org
It has been known for centuries that floral and extra-floral nectar secreted by plants attracts
and rewards animals. Extra-floral nectar is involved in so-called indirect defense by …

[PDF][PDF] Protection mutualism: an overview of ant-plant interactions mediated by extrafloral nectaries

ES Calixto, D Lange, K Del-Claro - Oecologia Australis, 2018 - researchgate.net
Ants and plants bearing extrafloral nectaries (EFNs) are among the most abundant
interacting organisms in the Neotropics, being considered excellent models for studies of …

Differences among ant species in plant protection are related to production of extrafloral nectar and degree of leaf herbivory

R Fagundes, W Dáttilo, SP Ribeiro… - Biological Journal of …, 2017 - academic.oup.com
Many studies assume that all ant species collecting extrafloral nectar defend plants against
herbivores, although ant–plant interactions are facultative, generalized and have variable …

Optimal defense theory in an ant–plant mutualism: extrafloral nectar as an induced defence is maximized in the most valuable plant structures

ES Calixto, D Lange, J Bronstein… - Journal of …, 2021 - Wiley Online Library
Plants allocate defences in order to decrease costs and maximize benefits against
herbivores. The Optimal Defense Theory (ODT) predicts that continuously expressed (ie …

Which traits optimize plant benefits? Meta‐analysis on the effect of partner traits on the outcome of an ant–plant protective mutualism

LC Leal, A Nogueira, PEC Peixoto - Journal of Ecology, 2023 - Wiley Online Library
Theoretical models on mutualism dynamics predict that partner traits may influence the
outcome of mutualistic interactions. However, most empirical data on this issue is restricted …

Effects of dominant ant species on ant community structure and ant–hemipteran interactions

VM Costa‐Silva, E Soares Calixto, X Moreira… - Oikos, 2023 - Wiley Online Library
Ants often interact aggressively for resources (eg nest sites and food) with members of their
own or another species. In these competitive interactions, dominant ant species exert a …

Plant species specificity of ant–plant mutualistic interactions: Differential predation of termites by Camponotus crassus on five species of extrafloral nectaries plants

ES Calixto, D Lange, X Moreira, K Del‐Claro - Biotropica, 2021 - Wiley Online Library
There is increasing evidence that the outcomes of mutualistic interactions between ants and
plants bearing extrafloral nectaries (EFNs) are context‐dependent. In particular, the total …

Extrafloral nectaries in Leguminosae: phylogenetic distribution, morphological diversity and evolution

B Marazzi, AM Gonzalez… - Australian …, 2019 - CSIRO Publishing
Extrafloral nectaries (EFNs) mediating ecologically important ant–plant protection
mutualisms are especially common and unusually diverse in the Leguminosae. We present …

Species‐level predation network uncovers high prey specificity in a Neotropical army ant community

PO Hoenle, N Blüthgen, A Brückner… - Molecular …, 2019 - Wiley Online Library
Army ants are among the top arthropod predators and considered keystone species in
tropical ecosystems. During daily mass raids with many thousand workers, army ants hunt …

Natural history and ecology of foraging of the Camponotus crassus Mayr, 1862 (Hymenoptera: Formicidae)

D Lange, ES Calixto, BB Rosa, TA Sales… - Journal of Natural …, 2019 - Taylor & Francis
Ants are abundant in terrestrial ecosystems, especially in the Brazilian Cerrado, where they
can play several roles at different levels of the food chain, including protection of plants …