Reciprocal protection from natural enemies in an ant-wasp association.
We show that in French Guiana the large carton nests of Azteca chartifex, a territorially-dominant arboreal dolichoderine ant, are protected from bird attacks when this ant lives in association with Polybia rejecta, an epiponine social wasp. Because A. chartifex colonies are well known for their ability to divert army ant raids from the base of their host tree so that they protect their associated wasps from these raids, there is a reciprocal benefit for these two partners, permitting us to call this association a mutualism. We also show that P. rejecta nests are significantly less often attacked by birds than are those of two compared epiponine social wasp species. Furthermore, experimentation using a standardized protocol demonstrated the significantly higher aggressiveness of P. rejecta compared to seven other wasp species. We conclude that the efficacious protection of its associated ant nests is likely due to the extreme aggressiveness of P. rejecta.
Panacoco SARL, 31, rue Mauran, 82500 Beaumont-de-Lomagne, France.
Roger
R
Le Guen
CNRS, laboratoire « microorganismes, génome et environnement », (UMR CNRS 6023), université Blaise-Pascal, complexe scientifique des Cézeaux, 63177 Aubière cedex, France; Université Clermont Auvergne, université Blaise-Pascal, LMGE, BP 10448, 63000 Clermont-Ferrand, France.
Bruno
B
Corbara
CIRAD, biens et services des écosystèmes forestiers tropicaux (CIRAD-UR 105), BP 2572, Yaoundé, Cameroon.
Vivien
V
Rossi
Université de Toulouse, UPS, INP, laboratoire « écologie fonctionnelle et environnement » (Ecolab), 118, route de Narbonne, 31062 Toulouse, France; CNRS, Ecolab (UMR-CNRS 5245), 31062 Toulouse, France.
Frédéric
F
Azémar
Université de Toulouse, UPS, INP, laboratoire « écologie fonctionnelle et environnement » (Ecolab), 118, route de Narbonne, 31062 Toulouse, France; CNRS, Ecolab (UMR-CNRS 5245), 31062 Toulouse, France; CNRS, écologie des forêts de Guyane (UMR-CNRS 8172), campus agronomique, BP 316, 97379 Kourou cedex, France. Electronic address: alain.dejean@wanadoo.fr.
Alain
A
Dejean
D000374:Aggression; D000818:Animals; D001000:Ants / Q000502:physiology*; D001717:Birds; D005616:French Guiana; D009425:Nesting Behavior; D011235:Predatory Behavior; D013559:Symbiosis; D014197:Trees; D014863:Wasps / Q000502:physiology*
Aggressiveness; Agressivité; Arboreal ants; Azteca; Fourmis arboricoles; Guêpes; Mutualisme de protection; Polybia; Protection mutualism; Social wasps