Schatz Bertrand, Anstett Marie-Charlotte, Out Welmoed, Hossaert-McKey Martine
Centre d'Ecologie Fonctionnelle et Evolutive (CEFE), U.M.R. 5175 CNRS, 1919 route de Mende, 34293, Montpellier, France.
Naturwissenschaften. 2003 Oct;90(10):456-9. doi: 10.1007/s00114-003-0457-9. Epub 2003 Aug 21.
In the species-specific and obligate mutualism between the fig (Ficus carica) and its pollinator (the fig wasps Blastophaga psenes), a third participant, the ant Crematogaster scutellaris, is a predator of the wasps. Here, we ask how ant workers can rapidly localise such prey, whose availability is limited in time and space. Using a Y-tube olfactometer, we tested ant response to odours emitted by different types of figs (receptive female, ripe female or male figs) and by fig wasps (pollinators or non-pollinators). We demonstrate that ants were significantly attracted only to odours emitted by pollinators, either alone or associated with odours of male figs (releasing wasps). Detection of prey odour by ants is an important trait that can explain their observed high rate of predation on pollinators, and could have important implications on the stability of the fig/fig wasp mutualism.
在无花果（榕属无花果）与其传粉者（榕小蜂无花果榕小蜂）之间特定物种的专性互利共生关系中，第三个参与者，即蚂蚁黄胸散白蚁，是榕小蜂的捕食者。在此，我们探究蚂蚁工蚁如何能迅速定位这类猎物，其在时间和空间上的可获取性是有限的。我们使用Y型嗅觉仪，测试了蚂蚁对不同类型无花果（接受授粉的雌果、成熟雌果或雄果）以及榕小蜂（传粉者或非传粉者）所散发气味的反应。我们证明，蚂蚁仅被传粉者单独散发的气味或与雄果气味（释放榕小蜂）混合的气味显著吸引。蚂蚁对猎物气味的察觉是一个重要特征，这可以解释它们观察到的对传粉者的高捕食率，并且可能对无花果/榕小蜂互利共生关系中的稳定性产生重要影响。
