Nigel Chaffey takes a deep dive in Scott Zona's new book that explains to gardeners what it is that their plants are doing.
Tag - ants
Nigel Chaffey
The plant that has a nectar menu to prevent unwanted visitors from interfering with pollination
A South American liana creates two different nectars for visitors. A new study finds out why.
Fi Gennu
Bromeliads offer ants a summer residence in Costa Rica
Myrmecophobes might want to avoid studying bromeliads in the forests of Costa Rica during the summer. There are plenty of plants, but they seem to attract fire ants.
Alun Salt
Ant protection from elephant herbivory in West African Acacias
Ants can provide effective protection from elephant herbivory in East African Acacia species, but is this true for species of West Africa?
William Salter
Are ants a benefit or a detriment when they occupy a plant? New research says they may be both.
Research in two new papers shows how ants can interfere with pollination, but this interference is complicated.
Non-insect-eating insectivorous plant
Probably the one thing one could guess about an insectivorous plant is that it ‘eats’ insects. Take for example one of the most iconic entomophagous botanics of them all, the Venus fly-trap (Dionaea muscipula). The...
Sore diners, cycads and birds…
… and now to … dinosaurs (!). Dinosaurs? Well, we did say at the outset of this mini series of articles that ‘seeds and animals’ was a very old association. Unlike the other animal associations mentioned already in this...
Are the sugary secretions of wasp galls analogues of extrafloral nectar?
They may look like extra-floral nectaries, but the galls in some South American trees are evidence of wasps calling in some help to look after their young.
botanyone
Highlight on diversity, ecology and evolution of extrafloral nectaries
Plants in over 100 families bear extrafloral nectaries (EFNs), which secrete a carbohydrate-rich food that attracts ants and other arthropods. By fostering ecologically important protective mutualisms, EFNs play a...
Mutualistic ants contribute to bromeliad nutrition
It is more advantageous for some bromeliads to obtain ant-derived nutrients via its roots than to eat them.
AJ Cann
Highlight on diversity, ecology and evolution of extrafloral nectaries
Plants in over 100 families bear extrafloral nectaries (EFNs), which secrete a carbohydrate-rich food that attracts ants and other arthropods. By fostering ecologically important protective mutualisms, EFNs play a...
Plants with ants
Ant-plant mutualisms play key roles in the functioning of tropical ecosystems, and are often important components of trophic webs but the net benefits to each partner are rarely quantified: A Carnivorous Plant Fed by...
annbot