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Ant Guild Identity Determines Seed Fate at the Post-Removal Seed Dispersal Stages of a Desert Perennial

SIMPLE SUMMARY: Ants play a dual role in their interaction with plant seeds. Many ant species, mainly harvester ants, consume plant seeds (granivory), whereas other ants, mainly scavengers, provide a beneficial seed dispersal service. Granivory by ants is frequently documented in deserts, but benefi...

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Autores principales: Ben-Zvi, Gilad, Seifan, Merav, Giladi, Itamar
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: MDPI 2021
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7915233/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/33567781
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/insects12020147
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author Ben-Zvi, Gilad
Seifan, Merav
Giladi, Itamar
author_facet Ben-Zvi, Gilad
Seifan, Merav
Giladi, Itamar
author_sort Ben-Zvi, Gilad
collection PubMed
description SIMPLE SUMMARY: Ants play a dual role in their interaction with plant seeds. Many ant species, mainly harvester ants, consume plant seeds (granivory), whereas other ants, mainly scavengers, provide a beneficial seed dispersal service. Granivory by ants is frequently documented in deserts, but beneficial seed dispersal is rarely studied in such ecosystems. We followed the handling of seeds of Sternbergia clusiana, an ant-dispersed plant, by two guilds of desert ants. We focused on the treatment of seeds within the nest and on the redispersal of seeds after ejection from the nest. Scavenging ants rarely consumed the seed itself, they deposited most seeds away from the nest in apparently suitable microhabitats. In addition, we found that most of the seeds that were relocated by scavenging ants arrived at sites under the canopy of shrubs. Such sites might be beneficial for the establishment and success of plants in the arid environment. Indeed, we found that the subject plant was more likely to be found under shrubs than elsewhere, which suggests that it benefits from being placed there. Such documentation of seed dispersal activity by scavenging ants in arid ecosystems suggests they may be efficient seed dispersers in deserts, as they are in other ecosystems. ABSTRACT: Ants play a dual role in their interaction with plant seeds. In deserts, the consumption of seeds by granivorous ants is common, whereas mutualistic seed dispersal, often associated with scavenging ants, is rarely documented. We evaluated the contribution of both ant guilds to efficient seed dispersal of an ant-dispersed plant, Sternbergia clusiana, in a desert ecosystem. We presented seed to colonies of three species of desert ants from the Cataglyphis (scavengers) and Messor (granivorous) genera. We recorded seed consumption, ejection from the nest, and seed transportation to potentially beneficial microhabitats. We evaluated microhabitat quality by testing the association between habitat types and the plant at various life stages. As expected, granivores mainly consumed the seeds, whereas scavengers consumed the elaiosome (seed appendage serving as a reward), but left the seeds intact. Moreover, scavenging ants relocated the seeds much further than granivores, mainly to shrub patches. The disproportional distribution of the plant under shrubs at several life stages suggests that this microhabitat is beneficial for the plant. Overall, while granivores seem to mainly harm seed dispersal, we provide the first evidence for the beneficial contribution of scavenging ants in deserts, showing they exhibit the same suite of characteristics that render them efficient seed dispersers in other ecosystems.
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spelling pubmed-79152332021-03-01 Ant Guild Identity Determines Seed Fate at the Post-Removal Seed Dispersal Stages of a Desert Perennial Ben-Zvi, Gilad Seifan, Merav Giladi, Itamar Insects Article SIMPLE SUMMARY: Ants play a dual role in their interaction with plant seeds. Many ant species, mainly harvester ants, consume plant seeds (granivory), whereas other ants, mainly scavengers, provide a beneficial seed dispersal service. Granivory by ants is frequently documented in deserts, but beneficial seed dispersal is rarely studied in such ecosystems. We followed the handling of seeds of Sternbergia clusiana, an ant-dispersed plant, by two guilds of desert ants. We focused on the treatment of seeds within the nest and on the redispersal of seeds after ejection from the nest. Scavenging ants rarely consumed the seed itself, they deposited most seeds away from the nest in apparently suitable microhabitats. In addition, we found that most of the seeds that were relocated by scavenging ants arrived at sites under the canopy of shrubs. Such sites might be beneficial for the establishment and success of plants in the arid environment. Indeed, we found that the subject plant was more likely to be found under shrubs than elsewhere, which suggests that it benefits from being placed there. Such documentation of seed dispersal activity by scavenging ants in arid ecosystems suggests they may be efficient seed dispersers in deserts, as they are in other ecosystems. ABSTRACT: Ants play a dual role in their interaction with plant seeds. In deserts, the consumption of seeds by granivorous ants is common, whereas mutualistic seed dispersal, often associated with scavenging ants, is rarely documented. We evaluated the contribution of both ant guilds to efficient seed dispersal of an ant-dispersed plant, Sternbergia clusiana, in a desert ecosystem. We presented seed to colonies of three species of desert ants from the Cataglyphis (scavengers) and Messor (granivorous) genera. We recorded seed consumption, ejection from the nest, and seed transportation to potentially beneficial microhabitats. We evaluated microhabitat quality by testing the association between habitat types and the plant at various life stages. As expected, granivores mainly consumed the seeds, whereas scavengers consumed the elaiosome (seed appendage serving as a reward), but left the seeds intact. Moreover, scavenging ants relocated the seeds much further than granivores, mainly to shrub patches. The disproportional distribution of the plant under shrubs at several life stages suggests that this microhabitat is beneficial for the plant. Overall, while granivores seem to mainly harm seed dispersal, we provide the first evidence for the beneficial contribution of scavenging ants in deserts, showing they exhibit the same suite of characteristics that render them efficient seed dispersers in other ecosystems. MDPI 2021-02-08 /pmc/articles/PMC7915233/ /pubmed/33567781 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/insects12020147 Text en © 2021 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
spellingShingle Article
Ben-Zvi, Gilad
Seifan, Merav
Giladi, Itamar
Ant Guild Identity Determines Seed Fate at the Post-Removal Seed Dispersal Stages of a Desert Perennial
title Ant Guild Identity Determines Seed Fate at the Post-Removal Seed Dispersal Stages of a Desert Perennial
title_full Ant Guild Identity Determines Seed Fate at the Post-Removal Seed Dispersal Stages of a Desert Perennial
title_fullStr Ant Guild Identity Determines Seed Fate at the Post-Removal Seed Dispersal Stages of a Desert Perennial
title_full_unstemmed Ant Guild Identity Determines Seed Fate at the Post-Removal Seed Dispersal Stages of a Desert Perennial
title_short Ant Guild Identity Determines Seed Fate at the Post-Removal Seed Dispersal Stages of a Desert Perennial
title_sort ant guild identity determines seed fate at the post-removal seed dispersal stages of a desert perennial
topic Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7915233/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/33567781
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/insects12020147
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