title: Variation in Extrafloral Nectary Productivity Influences the Ant Foraging.
abstract: Extrafloral nectar is the main food source offered by plants to predatory ants in most land environments. Although many studies have demonstrated the importance of extrafloral nectaries (EFNs) to plant defense against herbivores, the influence of EFNs secretory activity pattern on predatory ants remains yet not fully understood. Here, we verified the relation between the extrafloral nectar production of a plant community in Cerrado in different times of the day, and its attractiveness to ants. The extrafloral nectaries (EFNs) of seven plant species showed higher productivity overnight. Ant abundance was higher in times of large extrafloral nectar production, however, there was no positive relation between ant richness on plants and EFNs productivity. There was temporal resource partitioning among ant species, and it indicates strong resource competition. The nectar productivity varied among plant species and time of the day, and it influenced the visitation patterns of ants. Therefore, EFNs are a key ant-plant interaction driver in the studied system.
authors.affiliation: Universidade Tecnológica Federal do Paraná, Campus Santa Helena, Santa Helena, PR, Brazil.
authors.forename: Denise
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Lange
authors.affiliation: Pós-Graduação em Entomologia, Faculdade de Filosofia, Ciências e Letras, Universidade de São Paulo, Ribeirão Preto, SP, Brazil.
authors.forename: Eduardo Soares
authors.initials: ES
authors.lastname: Calixto
authors.affiliation: Laboratório de Ecologia Comportamental e de Interações (LECI), Instituto de Biologia, Universidade Federal de Uberlândia, Uberlândia, MG, Brazil.
authors.forename: Kleber
authors.identifier: http://orcid.org/0000-0001-8886-9568
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Del-Claro
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001000:Ants / Q000502:physiology*; D001938:Brazil; D017753:Ecosystem; D005247:Feeding Behavior; D060434:Herbivory / Q000502:physiology*; D018515:Plant Leaves; D057048:Plant Nectar / Q000502:physiology*; D010944:Plants; D013559:Symbiosis
chemical_list: D057048:Plant Nectar