The effect of ant tending on the fitness of aphids during and after colony establishment
Abstract
Mutualisms are mutually exploitative relationships in which the benefits to both partners outweigh the costs. Mutualisms are expected to exist in a fragile balance, and these interactions may vary, both across their geographic range and temporally. Valeriana edulis, a dioecious perennial, is host to an ant-aphid interaction that previous work has found to be deleterious to established colonies of the aphid, Aphis valerianae. Ant exclusion experiments and observations were performed on artificially established colonies at two sites to determine if the effect of ants was different for new or established colonies, or if it varied spatially or by plant sex. Contrary to our hypothesis, we found that ants had a negative effect on both new and established aphid colonies at both sites, and that there was no density-dependant effect on per capita aphid growth. Aphids performed better on female plants at one site, but the was no sex bias at the other site. Observational studies showed aphids preferred to colonize female plants at one site, but had no sex bias at the other.
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References (14)
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