Transgenerational effects and the cost of ant tending in aphids.

ABSTRACT: In mutualistic interactions, partners obtain a net benefit, but there may also be costs associated with the provision of benefits for a partner. The question of whether aphids suffer such costs when attended by ants has been raised in previous work. Transgenerational effects, where offspring phenotypes are adjusted based on maternal influences, could be important in the mutualistic interaction between aphids and ants, in particular because aphids have telescoping generations where two offspring generations can be present in a mature aphid. We investigated the immediate and transgenerational influence of ant tending on aphid life history and reproduction by observing the interaction between the facultative myrmecophile Aphis fabae and the ant Lasius niger over 13 aphid generations in the la

SUBMITTER: Tegelaar K 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3825118 | biostudies-literature | 2013 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature