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2017 ; 284
(1850
): ä Nephropedia Template TP
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Trade-offs in an ant-plant-fungus mutualism
#MMPMID28298342
Orivel J
; Malé PJ
; Lauth J
; Roux O
; Petitclerc F
; Dejean A
; Leroy C
Proc Biol Sci
2017[Mar]; 284
(1850
): ä PMID28298342
show ga
Species engaged in multiple, simultaneous mutualisms are subject to trade-offs in
their mutualistic investment if the traits involved in each interaction are
overlapping, which can lead to conflicts and affect the longevity of these
associations. We investigate this issue via a tripartite mutualism involving an
ant plant, two competing ant species and a fungus the ants cultivate to build
galleries under the stems of their host plant to capture insect prey. The use of
the galleries represents an innovative prey capture strategy compared with the
more typical strategy of foraging on leaves. However, because of a limited worker
force in their colonies, the prey capture behaviour of the ants results in a
trade-off between plant protection (i.e. the ants patrol the foliage and attack
intruders including herbivores) and ambushing prey in the galleries, which has a
cascading effect on the fitness of all of the partners. The quantification of
partners' traits and effects showed that the two ant species differed in their
mutualistic investment. Less investment in the galleries (i.e. in fungal
cultivation) translated into more benefits for the plant in terms of less
herbivory and higher growth rates and vice versa. However, the greater vegetative
growth of the plants did not produce a positive fitness effect for the better
mutualistic ant species in terms of colony size and production of sexuals nor was
the mutualist compensated by the wider dispersal of its queens. As a consequence,
although the better ant mutualist is the one that provides more benefits to its
host plant, its lower host-plant exploitation does not give this ant species a
competitive advantage. The local coexistence of the ant species is thus fleeting
and should eventually lead to the exclusion of the less competitive species.
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