亞馬遜螞蟻通過嗅覺便能夠判斷種子的種類,。據(jù)美國《科學(xué)》雜志在線報道，螞蟻(Camponotus femoratus)會采集黑胡椒樹的種子,，并將它們搬回位于樹上的蟻巢（如圖）,。黑胡椒樹的生長能夠防止蟻巢解體，而螞蟻同時也為植物的生長提供了養(yǎng)料,。當(dāng)研究人員在其他種子的表面涂抹上黑胡椒的提取物后,，這些螞蟻便會接踵而至。這是種子的氣味能夠吸引螞蟻的第一個例證,。研究人員在最近的美國《國家科學(xué)院院刊》（PNAS）網(wǎng)絡(luò)版上報告了這一研究成果,。（科學(xué)時報 群芳/編譯）
（《國家科學(xué)院院刊》（PNAS），10.1073/pnas.0708643105,，Elsa Youngsteadt, Coby Schal）
Published online before print January 22, 2008
Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA, 10.1073/pnas.0708643105
SPECIAL FEATURE / ECOLOGY
Seed odor mediates an obligate ant–plant mutualism in Amazonian rainforests
Elsa Youngsteadt*, Satoshi Nojima*, Christopher Häberlein, Stefan Schulz, and Coby Schal*,
*Department of Entomology and W.M. Keck Center for Behavioral Biology, North Carolina State University, Box 7613, Raleigh, NC 27695; and Institut für Organische Chemie, Technische Universität Braunschweig, Hagenring 30, 38106 Braunschweig, Germany
Edited by Thomas Eisner, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, and approved November 30, 2007 (received for review September 11, 2007)
Abstract
Seed dispersal mutualisms are essential for the survival of diverse plant species and communities worldwide. Among invertebrates, only ants have a major role in seed dispersal, and thousands of plant species produce seeds specialized for ant dispersal in "diffuse" multispecies interactions. An outstanding but poorly understood ant–seed mutualism occurs in the Amazonian rainforest, where arboreal ants collect seeds of several epiphyte species and cultivate them in nutrient-rich nests, forming abundant and conspicuous hanging gardens known as ant-gardens (AGs). AG ants and plants are dominant members of lowland Amazonian ecosystems, and their interaction is both specific and obligate, but the means by which ants locate, recognize, and accept their mutualist seeds while rejecting other seeds is unknown. Here we address the chemical and behavioral basis of the AG interaction. We show that workers of the AG ant Camponotus femoratus are attracted to odorants emanating from seeds of the AG plant Peperomia macrostachya, and that chemical cues also elicit seed-carrying behavior. We identify five compounds from P. macrostachya seeds that, as a blend, attract C. femoratus workers. This report of attractive odorants from ant-dispersed seeds illustrates the intimacy and complexity of the AG mutualism and begins to illuminate the chemical basis of this important and enigmatic interaction.
seed dispersal | ant-garden | myrmecochory | Camponotus femoratus | Peperomia macrostachya
