Knowledge Resource Center for Ecological Environment in Arid Area
DOI | 10.13102/sociobiology.v65i2.1783 |
A New Protocol Using Artificial Seeds to Evaluate Dietary Preferences of Harvester Ants in Semi-arid Environments | |
Luna, P.; Dattilo, W. | |
通讯作者 | Dattilo, W. |
来源期刊 | SOCIOBIOLOGY
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ISSN | 0361-6525 |
出版年 | 2018 |
卷号 | 65期号:2页码:149-154 |
英文摘要 | The preferences of seed intake by harvester ants (Pogonomyrmex spp.) have been debated for a long time, mainly due to the lack of repeatable methods to draw clear conclusions. However, several characteristics of the food resource are well recognized as the drivers of such selective predation. For instance, resource quality (i.e., availability of carbohydrates, lipids, and proteins) is one factor that could explain the observed foraging patterns of Pogonomyrmex species. In this sense, experimental approaches using artificial resources (e.g., synthetic seeds/diaspores) have provided a useful and alternative tool to study ant’s food foraging behavior. Therefore, it is expected that the use of artificial seeds also could offer a versatile way to assess the influence of resource quality on the resource selection by harvester ants. On the other hand, empirical experiments involving harvester ants and artificial seeds are still rare in the literature and it is not known if such methodology is efficient with different Pogonomyrmex species. In this study carried out in a Neotropical arid environment of central Mexico, we tested a simple but fundamental question: Do harvester ants (Pogonomyrmex barbatus) predate artificial seeds with manipulated nutrient content (lipids and proteins) in the field? We found that the proportion of native seeds removed was lower than the proportion of artificial seeds removed. However, we found no difference between the removal of artificial seeds containing only lipids and the seeds containing lipids + proteins. These findings indicate that the artificial seeds synthesized by us could be an effective method to test different ecological hypothesis involving harvester ants. Moreover, our empirical experiment offers a benchmark to study the influence of resource quality on the food foraging behavior of harvester ants in Neotropical arid environments. |
英文关键词 | Experimental methods granivorous ants myrmecochory Pogonomyrmex seed predation |
类型 | Article |
语种 | 英语 |
国家 | Mexico |
收录类别 | SCI-E |
WOS记录号 | WOS:000442752800004 |
WOS关键词 | CENTRAL MONTE DESERT ; HYMENOPTERA-FORMICIDAE ; POGONOMYRMEX SPP. ; LIFE-FORMS ; VEGETATION ; PREDATION ; BEHAVIOR |
WOS类目 | Entomology |
WOS研究方向 | Entomology |
资源类型 | 期刊论文 |
条目标识符 | http://119.78.100.177/qdio/handle/2XILL650/213175 |
作者单位 | Inst Ecol AC, Red Ecoetol, Carretera Antigua Coatepec 351, Xalapa 91070, Veracruz, Mexico |
推荐引用方式 GB/T 7714 | Luna, P.,Dattilo, W.. A New Protocol Using Artificial Seeds to Evaluate Dietary Preferences of Harvester Ants in Semi-arid Environments[J],2018,65(2):149-154. |
APA | Luna, P.,&Dattilo, W..(2018).A New Protocol Using Artificial Seeds to Evaluate Dietary Preferences of Harvester Ants in Semi-arid Environments.SOCIOBIOLOGY,65(2),149-154. |
MLA | Luna, P.,et al."A New Protocol Using Artificial Seeds to Evaluate Dietary Preferences of Harvester Ants in Semi-arid Environments".SOCIOBIOLOGY 65.2(2018):149-154. |
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