Insects | |
Ant Larval Demand Reduces Aphid Colony Growth Rates in an Ant-Aphid Interactio | |
Tom H. Oliver1  Simon R. Leather2  | |
[1] Division of Biology, Imperial College London, Silwood Park Campus, Ascot, Berkshire SL5 7PY, UK;School of Biological Sciences, University of Reading, Reading, RG6 6AS, UK; E-Mails: | |
关键词:
context dependency;
conditionality;
mutualism;
ant predation;
keystone interaction;
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DOI : 10.3390/insects3010120 | |
来源: mdpi | |
【 摘 要 】
Ants often form mutualistic interactions with aphids, soliciting honeydew in return for protective services. Under certain circumstances, however, ants will prey upon aphids. In addition, in the presence of ants aphids may increase the quantity or quality of honeydew produced, which is costly. Through these mechanisms, ant attendance can reduce aphid colony growth rates. However, it is unknown whether demand from within the ant colony can affect the ant-aphid interaction. In a factorial experiment, we tested whether the presence of larvae in
【 授权许可】
CC BY
© 2012 by the authors; licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.
【 预 览 】
Files | Size | Format | View |
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RO202003190045973ZK.pdf | 119KB | download |