Ecological consequences of interactions between ants and honeydew-producing insects

Interactions between ants and honeydew-producing hemipteran insects are abundant and widespread in arthropod food webs, yet their ecological consequences are very poorly known. Ant-hemipteran interactions have potentially broad ecological effects, because the presence of honeydew-producing hemiptera...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Proceedings of the Royal Society. B, Biological sciences Biological sciences, 2007-01, Vol.274 (1607), p.151-164
Main Authors: Styrsky, John D, Eubanks, Micky D
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Animals
Ants
Ants - physiology
Biodiversity
Bodily Secretions
Conditionality
Ecology
Feeding Behavior - physiology
Formicidae
Hemiptera - metabolism
Hemiptera - physiology
Hemipterans
Herbivores
Indirect Effects
Insect ecology
Insect pests
Mutualism
Phytophagous insects
Plant insect relations
Plant interaction
Plant Physiological Phenomena
Plants
Review
Symbiosis
Tritrophic Interactions
Trophic relationships
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Interactions between ants and honeydew-producing hemipteran insects are abundant and widespread in arthropod food webs, yet their ecological consequences are very poorly known. Ant-hemipteran interactions have potentially broad ecological effects, because the presence of honeydew-producing hemipterans dramatically alters the abundance and predatory behaviour of ants on plants. We review several studies that investigate the consequences of ant-hemipteran interactions as 'keystone interactions' on arthropod communities and their host plants. Ant-hemipteran interactions have mostly negative effects on the local abundance and species richness of several guilds of herbivores and predators. In contrast, out of the 30 studies that document the effects of ant-hemipteran interactions on plants, the majority (73%) shows that plants actually benefit indirectly from these interactions. In these studies, increased predation or harassment of other, more damaging, herbivores by hemipteran-tending ants resulted in decreased plant damage and/or increased plant growth and reproduction. The ecological consequences of mutualistic interactions between honeydew-producing hemipterans and invasive ants relative to native ants have rarely been studied, but they may be of particular importance owing to the greater abundance, aggressiveness and extreme omnivory of invasive ants. We argue that ant-hemipteran interactions are largely overlooked and underappreciated interspecific interactions that have strong and pervasive effects on the communities in which they are embedded.
ISSN:0962-8452
1471-2954
DOI:10.1098/rspb.2006.3701