ArticleDie Naturwissenschaften2021
Short-term plasticity and variation in acacia ant-rewards under different conditions of ant occupancy and herbivory.
Article in Die Naturwissenschaften, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 1 paper.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
1 citing paper in PubMed.
- Effect of Induced Mechanical Leaf Damage on the Yield and Content of Bioactive Molecules in Leaves and Seeds of Tepary Beans (Plants (Basel, Switzerland) · 2022Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
4 authors.
Funding
Abstract
In ant-plant defense mutualisms, plants known as myrmecophytes provide food and shelter to ant partners in exchange for defense against herbivores and pathogens. To ensure interaction pay-off, myrmecophytes must regulate their investment in ant-rewards depending on local conditions and herbivore pressure. We investigated how myrmecophyte investment in multiple ant-rewards relates to herbivory, ant defense, and ant occupancy over time. Specifically, we examined the plasticity of ant-rewards produced by swollen-thorn acacias (Vachellia collinsii) under different ant occupancy and herbivory conditions. We compared food rewards (number of extrafloral nectaries and pinnules as a proxy for food bodies) and housing rewards (domatia dimensions) of V. collinsii for three conditions: (1) occupied (defended by the obligate mutualist Pseudomyrmex spinicola) versus unoccupied trees, (2) occupied trees subject to an experimental herbivory manipulation versus control trees, and (3) trees occupied by different ant species varying in their level of defense (P. spinicola, P. simulans, Crematogaster crinosa). We found that food rewards were more likely to vary in time depending on ant occupancy and resident species. Conversely, housing rewards varied with the condition (occupancy or species of partner) and less through time. A one-time herbivory manipulation did not cause any changes to the ant-rewards produced. Our results reveal short-term plasticity in V. collinsii ant-rewards and demonstrate that myrmecophytes with constitutive rewards can adjust their investment in ant-rewards depending on the presence and identity of ant partners.
Indexed as
Identifiers
34196845What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.