Annual foraging of the leaf-cutting ant Atta colombica in a semideciduous rain forest in Panama

Journal of Tropical Ecology

Volumn 13, Issue 5, 1997, Pages 741-757

  Wirth, Rainer ^a,d   Beyschlag, Wolfram ^a   Ryel, Ronald J ^b   Hölldobler, Bert ^c  

^a BIELEFELD UNIVERSITY   (Germany)

^b UTAH STATE UNIVERSITY   (United States)

^c UNIVERSITY OF WÜRZBURG   (Germany)

^d Rheinland Pfälzische Technische Universität Kaiserslautern Landau   (Germany)

Author keywords

Atta colombica; Foraging patterns; Herbivory; Leaf cutting ants; Tropical rain forest

Indexed keywords

HARVESTING ACTIVITY; HERBIVORY; LEAF-CUTTING ANT; RAINFOREST;

BARRO COLORADO ISLAND; PANAMA;

ATTA; ATTA COLOMBICA; FORMICIDAE; HYMENOPTERA; VIRIDIPLANTAE;

EID: 0030817533     PISSN: 02664674     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1017/S0266467400010907     Document Type: Article

References (52)

1. BITANCOURT, A. 1941. Expressão matematica do crescimento de formigueiros de Atta sexdens rupropilosa representado pelo aumento do numero de olheiros. Archivos do Instituto Biológico São Paulo 12:229-236.
2. BLANTON, C. M. & EWEL J. J. 1985. Leaf-cutting ant herbivory in successional and agricultural tropical ecosystems. Ecology 66:861-869.
3. BREDA VAN, J. M. & STRADING, D. J. 1994. Mechanisms affecting load size determination in Atta cephalotes L. (Hymenoptera, Formicidae). Insectes Sociaux 41:423-434.
4. BROWN, B.J. & EWEL, J. J. 1988. Responses to defoliation of species-rich and monospecific tropical plant communities. Oecologia 75:12-19.
5. BROWN, D. G. 1994. Beetle folivory increases resource availability and alters plant invasion in monocultures of Goldenrod. Ecology 75:1673-1683.
6. CHERRETT, J. M. 1968. The foraging behaviour of Atta cephalotes L. (Hymenoptera, Formicidae). I. Foraging pattern and plant species attacked in tropical rain forest. Journal of Animal Ecology 37:387-403.
7. CHERRETT, J. M. 1972. Chemical aspects of plant attack by leaf cutting ants. Pp. 13-24 in Harborne J. B. (ed.). Photochemical Ecology. Academic Press, London.
8. CHERRETT, J. M. 1986. History of the leaf-cutting and problem. Pp. 10-17 in Lofgren, C. S. & van der Meer, R. K. (eds). Fire ants and leaf-cutting ants, biology and management. Westview Press, Boulder and London.
9. CHERRETT, J. M. 1989. Leaf-cutting ants. Pp. 473-486 in Lieth, H. & Werger, M. J. A. (eds). Ecosystems of the world (14B). Elsevier, Amsterdam.
10. CRAWLEY, M. J. 1983. Herbivory: the dynamics of animal plant interactions. Blackwell Scientific, Oxford, England.
11. CROAT, T. B. 1978. Flora of Barro Colorado Island. Stanford University Press, Stanford, California.
12. DIXON, A. F. G. 1966. The effect of population density and nutritive status of the host plant on the summer reproductive activity of the sycamore aphid Drepanosiphum plantanoides (Sehr.). Journal of Animal Ecology 35:105-112.
13. EMMEL, T. C. 1967. Ecology and activity of leaf-cutting ants Atta sp. Pp. 125-131 in Organisation for Tropical Studies advanced zoology: insect ecology in the tropics, winter 1967, San Jose Costa Rica.
14. FEENER, D. H. Jr & MOSS, K. A. G. 1990. Defense against parasites by hitchhikers in leaf-cutting ants: a quantitative assessment. Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology 26:17-29.
15. FEENY, P. 1970. Seasonal changes of oak leaf tannins and nutrients as a cause of spring feeding by winter moths caterpillars. Ecology 51:269-581.
16. FOLGARAIT, P. J., DYER, L. A., MARQUIS, R. J. & BRAKER, H. E. 1996: Leaf-cutting ant preferences for five native tropical plantation tree species growing under different light conditions. Entomologia Experimentalis et Applicata 80:521-530.
17. FOSTER, R. B. 1982. The seasonal rhythm of fruitfall on Barro Colorado Island. Pp. 151-172 in Leigh E. G. Jr, Rand, A. S. & Windsor, D. M. (eds). The ecology of a tropical forest: seasonal rhythms and long-term changes. Smithsonian Institution Press, Washington DC.
18. FOSTER, R. B. & BROKAW, N. V. L. 1982. Structure and history of vegetation of Barro Colorado Island. Pp. 67-81 in Leigh E. G. Jr, Rand, A. S. & Windsor, D. M. (eds). The ecology of a tropical forest: seasonal rhythms and long-term changes. Smithsonian Institution Press, Washington DC.
19. FOWLER, H. G. & ROBINSON, S. W. 1979. Foraging by Atta sexdens (Formicida: Attini): seasonal patterns, caste and efficiency. Ecological Entomology 4:239-247.
20. FOWLER, H. G., FORTI, L. C. & ROMAGNANO DI, L. F. T. 1990. Methods for the evaluation of leaf-cutting ant harvest. Pp. 228-241 in van der Meer, R., Jaffe, K. & Cedeno, A. (eds). Applied myrmecology, a world perspective. Westview Press, Boulder, San Francisco.
21. HAINES, B. 1975. Impact of leaf-cutting ants on vegetation development at Barro Colorado Island. Pp. 99-101 in Golley, F. G. & Medina, E. (eds). Tropical ecological systems: trends in terrestrial and aquatic research. Springer, New York.
22. HAINES, B. 1978. Element and energy flows through colonies of the leaf-cutting ant, Atta colombica in Panama. Biotropica 10:270-277.
23. HODGSON, E. S. 1955. An ecological study of the behavior of the leaf-cutting ant Atta cephalotes. Ecology 36:293-304.
24. HOLDRIDGE, L. R., GRENKE, W. C., HATHEWAY, W. H., LIANG, T. & TOSI J. A. Jr 1971. Forest environments in tropical life zones: a pilot study. Pergamon Press, Oxford.
25. HÖLLDOBLER, B. & WILSON, E. O. 1990. The ants. Harvard University Press, Cambridge, MA.
26. JONKMANN, J. C. M. 1977. Determination of the vegetative material intake and refuse production ratio in two species of grasscutting ants. Zeitschrift für angewandte Entomologie 84:135-143.
27. JUTSUM, A. R., CHERRETT, J. M. & FISHER, M. 1981. Interaction between the fauna of citrus trees in Trinidad and the ants Atta cephalotes and Azteca sp. Journal of Applied Ecology 18:187-195.
28. LEIGH, E. G. Jr, & SMYTHE, N. 1978. Leaf production, leaf consumption, and the regulation of folivory on Barro Colorado Island. Pp. 33-50 in Montgomery, G. G. (eds). The ecology of arboreal folivores. Smithsonian Institution Press, Washington DC.
29. LEIGH, E. G. Jr. & WINDSOR, D. N. 1982. Forest production and regulation of primary consumers on Barro Colorado Island. Pp. 111-122 in Leigh, E. G. Jr, Rand, A. S. & Windsor, D. M. (eds). The ecology of a tropical forest: seasonal rhythms and long-term changes. Smithsonian Institution Press, Washington DC.
30. LEWIS, T., POLLARD, G. V. & DIBLEY, G. C. 1974a. Rhythmic foraging in the leaf cutting ant Atta cephalotes (L.) (Formicidae: Attini). Journal of Animal Ecology 43:129-141
31. LEWIS, T., POLLARD, G. V. & DIBLEY, G. C. 1974b. Microenvironmerital factors affecting diel patterns of foraging in the leaf cutting ant Atta cephalotes (1.) (Formicidae: Attini). Journal of Animal Ecology 43:143-153.
32. LUGO, A. E., FARNWORTH, E. G., POOL, G., JEREZ, P. & KAUFMANN, G. 1973. The impact of the leaf-cutter ant Atta colombica on the energy flow of a tropical wet forest. Ecology 54:1292-1301.
33. LUTZ, F. E. 1929. Observations on leaf-cutting ants. American Museum Novitates 388:1-21.
34. MARQUIS, R. J. 1984. Leaf herbivores decrease fitness of a tropical plant. Science 226:537-39.
35. MARQUIS, R. J. 1992. Selective impact of herbivores. Pp. 301-325 in Fritz, R. S. & Simms, E. L. (eds). Ecology and evolution of plant resistance. University of Chicago Press, Chicago.
36. ORR, M. R. 1992. Parasitic flies (Diptera: Phoridae) influence foraging rhythms and caste division of labor in leaf-cutter ant, Atta cephalotes (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology 30:395-102.
37. PYKE, G. H., PULLIAM, H. R. & CHARNOV, G. L. 1977. Optimal foraging: a selective review of theory and tests. Quarterly Review of Biology 52:137-154.
38. RAND, A. S. & RAND, W. M. 1982. Variation in rainfall on Barro Colorado Island. Pp. 47-59 in Leigh, E. G. Jr, Rand, A. S. & Windsor, D. M. (eds). The ecology of a tropical forest: seasonal rhythms and long-term changes. Smithsonian Institution Press, Washington DC.
39. ROCKWOOD, L. L. 1975. The effects of seasonally on foraging in two species of leaf-cutting ants Atta in Guanacaste Province, Costa Rica. Biotropica 7:176-193.
40. ROCKWOOD, L. L. & HUBBEL, S. P. 1987. Host plant selection, diet, diversity, and optimal foraging in a tropical leaf-cutting ant. Oecologia 74:55-61.
41. RUDOLPH, S. G. & LOUDON, K. 1986. Load size selection by foraging leaf-cutter ants, Atta cephalotes. Ecological Entomology 11:401-410.
42. SHEPHERD, J. D. 1982. Trunk trails and the searching strategy of a leaf-cutter ant, Atta colombica. Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology 11:77-84.
43. SHEPHERD, J. D. 1985. Adjusting foraging effort to resources in adjacent colonies of the leaf-cutting ant, Atta colombica. Biotropica 17:245-252.
44. WALLER, D. A. 1986. The foraging ecology of Atta texana in Texas. Pp. 146-158 in Lofgren, C. S. & van der Meer, R. K. (eds). Fire ants and leaf-cutting ants, biology and management. Westview Press, Boulder and London.
45. WEBER, N. A. 1972. Gardening ants. The attines. American Philosophical Society, Philadelphia. 146 pp.
46. WETTERER, J. K. 1988. Size selective foraging by leaf-cutting ants and planktivorous fish. PhD Thesis, University of Washington.
47. WETTERER, J. K. 1990. Load-size determination in the leaf-cutting ant, Atta cephalotes. International Society for Behavioral Ecology 1:95-101.
48. WETTERER, J. K. 1994. Attack by Paraponera clavata prevents herbivory by the leaf-cutting ant, Atta cephalotes. Biotropica 26:462-465.
49. WHEELER, W. M. 1907. The fungus growing ants of North America. Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 23:669-807.
50. WHITHAM, T. G., MASCHINSKI, J., LARSON, K. C. & PAIGE, K. N. 1991. Plant responses to herbivory: the continuum from negative to positive and underlying physiological mechanisms. Pp. 227-256 in Price, P. W., Lewinsohn, T. M., Fernandes, G. W. & Benson, W. W. (eds). Plant-animal interactions: evolutionary ecology in tropical and temperate regions. J. Wiley, New York.
51. WILSON, E. O. 1971. The insect societies. Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, Cambridge, Mass.
52. WINT, G. R. W. 1983. Leaf damage in tropical rain forest canopies. Pp. 229-239 in Sutton, S. L., Whitmore, T. C. & Chadwick, A. C. (eds). Tropical rain forest, ecology and management Blackwell Scientific Publications, Oxford, UK.