Quinteros-Gómez Yakov, Macedo-Bedoya Jehoshua, Salinas-Inga Abel, Anlas-Rosado Flavia, Santos-Linares Victor, Alarcon-Iman Geancarlo, Gómez-Ticerán Doris, Angeles-Alvarez Franco, Olórtegui-Chamolí Sergio, Solis-Sarmiento Julio, Jara-Peña Enoc, Monroy-Vilchis Octavio
Laboratorio de Ecología Tropical y Análisis de Datos, Facultad de Ciencias Biológicas, Universidad Nacional Mayor de San Marcos (UNMSM), Lima 15081, Peru.
Laboratorio de Entomología, Facultad de Ciencias Biológicas, Universidad Nacional Mayor de San Marcos (UNMSM), Lima 15081, Peru.
Insects. 2024 Dec 20;15(12):1011. doi: 10.3390/insects15121011.
Mutualisms characterized by reciprocal benefits between species are a fundamental relationship of tropical ecosystems. Ant Gardens (AGs) represent an interesting ant-plant mutualism, involving specialized interactions between vascular epiphytes and ants. While this relationship has been extensively studied in various tropical regions, the available information on Peruvian ecosystems is limited. The objective of this study was to identify the ant and epiphyte species that constitute AGs. From February 2023 to January 2024, a study was conducted on two 50 × 10 m transects within the peat swamp forest, located within the Water Association Aguajal Renacal del Alto Mayo (ADECARAM) Tingana in San Martín, Peru. A total of 69 ant gardens were documented, comprising 18 phorophyte species, 19 epiphyte species, and three ant species. The results demonstrated that neither the height nor the diameter at breast height (DBH) of phorophytes exhibited a statistically significant correlation with the number of AGs per host. However, a positive correlation was observed between the length and width of the AGs and the number of ants per AG. The findings of this study contribute to the understanding of AG mutualism in Peruvian ecosystems.
以物种间互惠互利为特征的共生关系是热带生态系统的一种基本关系。蚁园（AGs）代表了一种有趣的蚂蚁与植物的共生关系，涉及维管附生植物和蚂蚁之间的特殊相互作用。虽然这种关系在各个热带地区都得到了广泛研究，但关于秘鲁生态系统的现有信息有限。本研究的目的是确定构成蚁园的蚂蚁和附生植物物种。2023年2月至2024年1月，在秘鲁圣马丁的阿瓜贾尔·雷纳卡尔·德尔·阿尔托·马约水协会（ADECARAM）廷加纳内的泥炭沼泽森林内的两条50×10米的样带上进行了一项研究。共记录了69个蚁园，包括18种寄主植物、19种附生植物和3种蚂蚁。结果表明，寄主植物的高度和胸径（DBH）与每个寄主上的蚁园数量均未表现出统计学上的显著相关性。然而，观察到蚁园的长度和宽度与每个蚁园中的蚂蚁数量之间存在正相关。本研究结果有助于了解秘鲁生态系统中的蚁园共生关系。
