Document Type
Journal Article
Date of this Version
11-5-2013
Publication Source
PLOS Biology
Volume
11
Issue
11
Start Page
e1001705
DOI
10.1371/journal.pbio.1001705
Abstract
Abiotic environmental variables strongly affect the outcomes of species interactions. For example, mutualistic interactions between species are often stronger when resources are limited. The effect might be indirect: water stress on plants can lead to carbon stress, which could alter carbon-mediated plant mutualisms. In mutualistic ant–plant symbioses, plants host ant colonies that defend them against herbivores. Here we show that the partners' investments in a widespread ant–plant symbiosis increase with water stress across 26 sites along a Mesoamerican precipitation gradient. At lower precipitation levels, Cordia alliodora trees invest more carbon in Azteca ants via phloem-feeding scale insects that provide the ants with sugars, and the ants provide better defense of the carbon-producing leaves. Under water stress, the trees have smaller carbon pools. A model of the carbon trade-offs for the mutualistic partners shows that the observed strategies can arise from the carbon costs of rare but extreme events of herbivory in the rainy season. Thus, water limitation, together with the risk of herbivory, increases the strength of a carbon-based mutualism.
Copyright/Permission Statement
This article is under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license.
Recommended Citation
Pringle, E. G., Akçay, E., Raab, T. K., Dirzo, R., & Gordon, D. M. (2013). Water Stress Strengthens Mutualism Among Ants, Trees, and Scale Insects. PLOS Biology, 11 (11), e1001705-. http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pbio.1001705
Included in
Animal Sciences Commons, Biology Commons, Environmental Health Commons, Plant Biology Commons
Date Posted: 30 September 2015
This document has been peer reviewed.
Comments
At the time of publication, author Erol Akçay was affiliated with Stanford University. Currently, he is a faculty member at the Department of Biology at the University of Pennsylvania.