Davidson, D. W.;Cook, S. C.;Snelling, R. R.;Chua, T. H.
Explaining the abundance of ants in lowland tropical rainforest canopies
Science
2003
Journal Article
300
5621
969-972
Candidatus blochmannia symbiotic bacteria nitrogen isotopes arboreal ants host-plant endosymbionts aphids buchnera trees plant-animal interactions canopy Parque Nacional del Manu Cocha Cashu herbivory predation insects ant-plant interactions large spatial scales plants animals invertebrates arthropods insects ants Madre de Dios Bibliography
The extraordinary abundance of ants in tropical rainforest canopies has led to speculation that numerous arboreal ant taxa feed principally as "herbivores" of plant and insect exudates. Based on nitrogen (N) isotope ratios of plants, known herbivores, arthropod predators, and ants from Amazonia and Borneo, we find that many arboreal ant species obtain little N through predation and scavenging. Microsymbionts of ants and their hemipteran trophobionts might play key roles in the nutrition of taxa specializing on N-poor exudates. For plants, the combined costs of biotic defenses and herbivory by ants and tended Hemiptera are substantial, and forest losses to insect herbivores vastly exceed current estimates.