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Reduced damage and epiphyll cover of leaves of Korthalsia rattans that host Camponotus ants in the rain forest of Malaysian Borneo

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  13 July 2016

Krzysztof Miler ,
Bakhtiar Effendi Yahya  and
Marcin Czarnoleski
Krzysztof Miler
Affiliation:
Institute of Environmental Sciences, Jagiellonian University, Gronostajowa 7, 30–387 Kraków, Poland
Bakhtiar Effendi Yahya
Affiliation:
Institute for Tropical Biology and Conservation, Universiti Malaysia Sabah, Jalan UMS, 88400 Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, Malaysia
Marcin Czarnoleski*
Affiliation:
Institute of Environmental Sciences, Jagiellonian University, Gronostajowa 7, 30–387 Kraków, Poland
*
1Corresponding author. Email: marcin.czarnoleski@uj.edu.pl
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Abstract:

Many species of palm produce chambers called domatia that are used by ants as nesting spaces. However, the ecological nature of this association is not well understood, and the information on palm–ant interactions is primarily anecdotal. Here, we conducted a field study in the secondary forest of the Danum Valley Conservation Area, Malaysian Borneo, on 41 individuals of the rattan Korthalsia furtadoana. All studied plants showed signs of a past or present partnership with domatia-nesting ants, as indicated by entry holes in domatia. In 14 plants, our physical disturbance of a stem provoked the appearance of patrolling ants of Camponotus sp. We compared the leaf conditions of rattans with and without patrolling ants, testing whether the presence of ants is linked to improved leaf health. The leaflets of plants with patrolling ants were significantly less physically damaged and less covered by epiphylls. On average, 19% of the leaflets of plants with patrolling ants were damaged (52% in plants without patrolling ants), and the epiphyll cover of their leaflets was 0.2 on our scale of 0–4 (1.3 in plants without patrolling ants). Our results suggest that this poorly studied plant–ant association has a mutualistic character. It seems that the ants take advantage of the nesting space created by the plant partner, while the plants gain protection for their photosynthetic apparatus against herbivores and epiphylls.

Keywords

antsBorneoCamponotusdomatiaepiphyllherbivoryKorthalsia furtadoanamutualismpalmssymbiosis
Type
Short Communication
Information
Journal of Tropical Ecology , Volume 32 , Issue 4 , July 2016 , pp. 330 - 334
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2016 

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