Are phanerophytes fed by ants? A possible strategy in the face of nutrient scarcity in a tropical forest

• Grant number: 14/14345-2
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Scientific Initiation
• Start date: September 01, 2014
• End date: June 30, 2015
• Field of knowledge: Biological Sciences - Ecology - Ecosystems Ecology
• Principal Investigator: Gustavo Quevedo Romero
• Grantee: Tháles Augusto Coralli Pereira
• Host Institution: Instituto de Biologia (IB). Universidade Estadual de Campinas (UNICAMP). Campinas , SP, Brazil

Abstract

Many tropical forests are in a paradigm wherein their luxuriant vegetation contrasts with their acid and dystrophic soils. In the face of this limitation, nutrient cycling and the strategies adopted by the organisms play a crucial role in the stability of these ecosystems. Myrmecotrophy, for example, an association in which ants provide their host plants with nutrients, has been recognized as an important nutrient acquisition strategy in response to the nutrient-poor, lateritic soils of tropical forests, where nitrogen is one of the major limiting resources. Moreover, as both these taxa are among the most abundant and diverse in arboreal tropical ecosystems, their interactions have a strong impact on food webs and thus on the structure of these communities. In the Atlantic Forest domain, although this phenomenon has never been recorded, field observations have provided evidence of a possible case of myrmecotrophy in a resting forest. The shrub Ouratea verticillata (Vell.) Engl. (Ochnaceae), as a consequence of its spiral phyllotaxis, accumulates debris on its leaf axils, where ant nests are frequently found. In this site, adventitious roots formed from its own stem intertwine with the anthill, which appears to be composed of some humic material, probably deposited by the ants establish in this region. The present study aims to assess whether these arthropods play an important role to the nutrition of their host plants and if so, to further consider how important is such contribution through the use of experimental enrichments with stable isotopes (15N).