巴西热带稀树草原中帕伊拉兰托斯·伦迪（谷精草科）的蚂蚁传粉。
Ant pollination of Paepalanthus lundii (Eriocaulaceae) in Brazilian savanna.
机构信息
Instituto de Biologia, LECI (Laboratório de Ecologia Comportamental e de Interações), Pós-graduação em Ecologia e Conservação de Recursos Naturais, Universidade Federal de Uberlândia, Uberlândia, MG, Brazil.
Instituto de Ecología A.C., Red de Interacciones Multitróficas, Carretera antigua a Coatepec, El Haya, Xalapa, Veracruz, Mexico.
出版信息
Ann Bot. 2019 Jul 8;123(7):1159-1165. doi: 10.1093/aob/mcz021.
BACKGROUND AND AIMS
Ant-plant associations are widely diverse and distributed throughout the world, leading to complex ecological networks. Regarding ant-plant mutualism, ant pollination is a very rare interaction and few studies have shown the role of ants as pollinators. Therefore, we aimed to evaluate the role of ants as effective pollinators of Paepalanthus lundii (Eriocaulaceae) in a Brazilian savanna.
METHODS
Fieldwork with experimental manipulation was conducted to evaluate the fitness of P. lundii, considering potential pollinators. For this, we mainly observed the number of seeds produced in different conditions: control, ant exclusion, exclusion of flying insects, and exclusion (entomophily test) of both ants and flying insects. Furthermore, we evaluated all floral visitors throughout the day, stigma receptivity, the numbers of male and female flowers, and patterns of species co-occurrence, which can indicate the presence of different pollinators in the plants at the same time.
KEY RESULTS
We observed a relation between seed production and ant visits; Camponotus crassus was the most frequent floral visitor and the most effective pollinator. Also, we observed a statistical difference between the numbers of male and female flowers produced, with a greater number of male flowers. Furthermore, P. lundii presented flowering asynchrony, with 12 different types of maturation sequence, which indicates a cross-pollination system. Lastly, we observed an overlap of the greatest abundance of C. crassus and the time of plant stigmatic receptivity, and a pattern of non co-occurrence of ants, which shows the pollinator role of this ant.
CONCLUSIONS
Our data provide evidence that previous generalizations neglecting the importance of ants as pollinators are wrong. Brazilian savanna can reveal a lot about the ant-pollination syndrome, since this environment presents peculiar characteristics related to this association. Thus, this study has great significance for the understanding of the ant-pollination syndrome, and for the understanding of the complex ecological networks present in these dry arid systems.
背景与目的
蚁-植物的共生关系广泛多样，分布于世界各地，形成了复杂的生态网络。在蚁-植物的互惠共生关系中，蚂蚁授粉是一种非常罕见的相互作用，很少有研究表明蚂蚁具有传粉作用。因此，我们旨在评估巴西热带稀树草原中，蚂蚁作为 Paepalanthus lundii（眼子菜科）有效传粉者的作用。
方法
通过野外实验操作，评估 P. lundii 的适合度，考虑潜在的传粉者。为此，我们主要观察了在不同条件下产生的种子数量：对照、蚂蚁排除、飞行昆虫排除和蚂蚁和飞行昆虫排除（虫媒测试）。此外，我们还评估了全天的所有访花者、柱头可接受性、雄花和雌花的数量以及物种共现模式，这些模式可以表明同一时间植物中存在不同的传粉者。
主要结果
我们观察到种子产量与蚂蚁访问之间存在关系；Camponotus crassus 是最常见的访花者，也是最有效的传粉者。此外，我们还观察到产生的雄花和雌花数量之间存在统计学差异，雄花数量较多。此外，P. lundii 表现出花期不同步，有 12 种不同的成熟序列，表明其具有异花授粉系统。最后，我们观察到 C. crassus 数量最多和植物柱头可接受性时间的重叠，以及蚂蚁非共现模式，这表明这种蚂蚁具有传粉作用。
结论
我们的数据提供了证据，证明之前忽略蚂蚁作为传粉者重要性的一般性结论是错误的。巴西热带稀树草原可以揭示很多关于蚁传粉综合征的信息，因为这种环境具有与这种共生关系相关的独特特征。因此，这项研究对于理解蚁传粉综合征以及理解这些干旱系统中存在的复杂生态网络具有重要意义。
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