Extrafloral nectar as entree and elaiosomes as main course for ant visitors to a fireprone, mediterranean-climate shrub.

ABSTRACT: Thousands of plants produce both extrafloral nectaries (EFNs) on their leaves and nutrient-rich appendages on their diaspores (elaiosomes). Although their individual ecology is well-known, any possible functional link between these structures has almost always been ignored. Here, we recognized their co-presence in the shrub, Adenanthos cygnorum (Proteaceae), and studied their function and interaction. We observed that the same ants frequently visit both structures, seeds are attractive to vertebrate granivores but are released into a leafy cup from where they are harvested by ants and taken to their nests, from which seeds, lacking elaiosomes, germinate after fire. We showed that juvenile plants do not produce EFNs and are not visited by ants. We conclude that EFNs are not just an i

SUBMITTER: Lamont BB 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9643124 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature