Sodium-specific foraging by leafcutter ant workers (Atta cephalotes, Hymenoptera: Formicidae)

Ecological Entomology

Volumn 37, Issue 5, 2012, Pages 435-438

  Chavarria Pizarro, Laura ^a   Mccreery, Helen F ^b   Lawson, Sarah P ^c   Winston, Max E ^d   O'Donnell, Sean ^e  

^a UNIVERSITY OF SÃO PAULO   (Brazil)

^b UNIVERSITY OF COLORADO   (United States)

^c VANDERBILT UNIVERSITY   (United States)

^d UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO   (United States)

^e DREXEL UNIVERSITY   (United States)

Author keywords

Costa Rica; Geographical variation; Herbivory; La Selva Biological Station; Salt limitation; Trophic level

Indexed keywords

ANT; COLONY; ENTOMOLOGY; FORAGING BEHAVIOR; GEOGRAPHICAL VARIATION; HERBIVORE; HERBIVORY; MUTUALISM; NEOTROPIC ECOZONE; NUTRIENT LIMITATION; SALT; SODIUM; SODIUM CHLORIDE; TROPHIC LEVEL;

COSTA RICA; LA SELVA BIOLOGICAL STATION; LIMON;

ANIMALIA; ATTA; ATTA CEPHALOTES; FORMICIDAE; HYMENOPTERA;

EID: 84866165951     PISSN: 03076946     EISSN: 13652311     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1111/j.1365-2311.2012.01380.x     Document Type: Article

References (20)

1. Caldera, E.J., Poulsen, M., Suen, G. & Currie, C.R. (2009) Insect symbioses: a case study of past, present, and future fungus-growing ant research. Environmental Entomology, 38, 78-92.
2. Costa, A.N., Vasconcelos, H.L., Vieira-Neto, E.H.M. & Bruna, E.M. (2008) Do herbivores exert top-down effects in Neotropical savannas? Estimates of biomass consumption by leaf-cutter ants. Journal of Vegetation Science, 19, 849-854.
3. Cromack, F.J., Sollins, P., Todd, R.L., Crossley, D.A.J., Fender, W.M., Fogel, R. et al. (1977) Soil microorganism-arthropod interactions: fungi as major calcium and sodium sources. The Role of Arthropods in Forest Ecosystems (ed. by W. J. Mattson), pp. 78-84. Springer-Verlag, New York, New York.
4. Dudley, R., Kaspari, M. & Yanoviak, S.P. (2012) Lust for salt in the western Amazon. Biotropica, 44, 6-9.
5. Dussutour, A., Beshers, S., Deneubourg, J.L. & Fourcassie, V. (2009) Priority rules govern the organization of traffic on foraging trails under crowding conditions in the leaf-cutting ant Atta colombica. Journal of Experimental Biology, 212, 499-505.
6. Fassbender, M., Bach, H., Kitten, J., Nortier, F.M. & Taylor, W. (2010) Radioisotope production at the Los Alamos National Laboratory. Journal of Labelled Compounds and Radiophramaceuticals, 53, 332-335.
7. Herz, H., Beyschlag, W. & Holldobler, B. (2007) Herbivory rate of leaf-cutting ants in a tropical moist forest in Panama at the population and ecosystem scales. Biotropica, 39, 482-488.
8. Herz, H., Holldobler, B. & Roces, F. (2008) Delayed rejection in a leaf-cutting ant after foraging on plants unsuitable for the symbiotic fungus. Behavioral Ecology, 19, 575-582.
9. Holldobler, B. & Wilson, E.O. (2011) The Leafcutter Ants. W.W. Norton & Co., New York, New York.
10. Kaspari, M., Yanoviak, S.P. & Dudley, R. (2008) On the biogeography of salt limitation: a study of ant communities. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 105, 17848-17851.
11. Kaspari, M., Yanoviak, S.P., Dudley, R., Yuan, M. & Clay, N.A. (2009) Sodium shortage as a constraint on the carbon cycle in an inland tropical rainforest. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 106, 19405-19409.
12. Kost, C., de Oliveira, E.G., Knoch, T.A. & Wirth, R. (2005) Spatio-temporal permanence and plasticity of foraging trails in young and mature leaf-cutting ant colonies (Atta spp.). Journal of Tropical Ecology, 21, 677-688.
13. National Research Council (2005) Mineral Tolerances of Animals. National Academies Press, Washington, District of Columbia.
14. North, R.D., Jackson, C.W. & Howse, P.E. (1999) Communication between the fungus garden and workers of the leaf-cutting ant, Atta sexdens rubropilosa, regarding choice of substrate for the fungus. Physiological Entomology, 24, 127-133.
15. O'Donnell, S., Garcia-C, J.M., Beard, J., Chiwocha, T., Lewis, D., Liu, C. et al. (2010) Leaf cutter ants (Atta cephalotes) harvest baits offering sodium chloride rewards. Insectes Sociaux, 57, 205-208.
16. Richard, F.-J., Mora, P., Errard, C. & Rouland, C. (2005) Digestive capacities of leaf-cutting ants and the contribution of their fungal cultivar to the degradation of plant material. Journal of Comparative Physiology B, 175, 297-303.
17. Russell, J.A., Moreau, C.S., Goldman-Huertasa, B., Fujiwaraa, M., Lohman, D.J. & Pierce, N.E. (2009) Bacterial gut symbionts are tightly linked with the evolution of herbivory in ants. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 106, 21236-21241.
18. Seal, J.N. & Tschinkel, W.R. (2007) Co-evolution and the superorganism: switching cultivars does not alter the performance of fungus-gardening ant colonies. Functional Ecology, 21, 988-997.
19. Silva-Pinhati, A.C.O., Bacci, M., Siqueira, C.G., Silva, A., Pagnocca, F.C., Bueno, O.C. et al. (2005) Isolation and maintenance of symbiotic fungi of ants in the tribe Attini (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). Neotropical Entomology, 34, 1-5.
20. Stallard, R.F. & Edmond, J.M. (1981) Geochemistry of the Amazon. 1. Precipitation chemistry and the marine contribution to the dissolved-load at the time of peak discharge. Journal of Geophysical Research, 86, 9844-9858.