Department of Biosciences, School of Biological and Environmental Sciences, Kwansei Gakuin University, 1 Gakuen-Uegahara, Sanda, Hyogo 669-1330, Japan.
Curr Opin Insect Sci. 2022 Aug;52:100943. doi: 10.1016/j.cois.2022.100943. Epub 2022 Jun 9.
Mutualism is the reciprocal exploitation of interacting participants and is vulnerable to nonrewarding cheating. Ants are dominant insects in most terrestrial ecosystems, and some aphids and lycaenid butterfly species provide them with nutritional nectar rewards and employ ants as bodyguards. In this review, I discuss how chemical communication based on condition-dependent signaling and recognition plasticity regulate the payoff of interacting participants. I argue that the selfishness of both participants explains the signaling and communication among participants and contributes to the stability of these mutualisms. Uncovering the origin and maintenance of mutualistic association of ants will come from future research on ant collective behavior, the genetic and neural basis of cooperation, and a deeper understanding of the costs and benefits of these interactions.
互利共生是相互作用的参与者之间的互惠利用，容易受到无回报的欺骗。蚂蚁是大多数陆地生态系统中的优势昆虫，一些蚜虫和粉蝶物种为它们提供营养花蜜作为回报，并雇佣蚂蚁作为保镖。在这篇综述中，我讨论了基于条件依赖信号和识别可塑性的化学通讯如何调节相互作用参与者的收益。我认为，双方参与者的自私性解释了参与者之间的信号传递和沟通，并有助于这些互利共生关系的稳定性。揭示蚂蚁互利共生关系的起源和维持将来自未来对蚂蚁集体行为、合作的遗传和神经基础以及对这些相互作用的成本和收益的更深入理解的研究。
