Aggressive bodyguards are not always the best: Preferential interaction with more aggressive ant species reduces reproductive success of plant bearing extrafloral nectaries.

Variation in partner species and frequency of interaction between species pairs are potential drivers of the net outcome of generalized mutualisms. In ant-plant mutualisms, the quality of defence provided by ants is related to ant aggressiveness. Hence, we hypothesize that the performance of plants...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Bruno Gabriel Melati, Laura Carolina Leal
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Public Library of Science (PLoS) 2018-01-01
Series:PLoS ONE
Online Access:http://europepmc.org/articles/PMC6021078?pdf=render