Publication Type |
Journal Article |
School or College |
College of Science |
Department |
Biology |
Creator |
Davidson, Diane W. |
Other Author |
Johnson, Heather L. |
Title |
Experimental manipulation of food bodies in Cecropia |
Date |
1992 |
Description |
Neotropical Cecropia trees range from Mexico to Argentina and are typical of disturbed habitats. Cecropia plants provide food and housing for the ants in return for known or presumed protection from herbivores and vine cover. Glycogen-rich Mullerian bodies (MB's) are the predominant food source for ants and are produced at sites called trichilia. Working with Cecropia (prov.) "tessmannii", we continuously removed MB's from 10 of 20 plants in a common garden and left the remaining control plants unmanipulated. Control plants produced fewer MB's over the lifespan of a trichilia. Therefore, plants appear to regulate MB production so that energy is not wasted in biotic defense if appropriate ants are not present. |
Type |
Text |
Publisher |
National Conference on Undergraduate Research |
First Page |
1542 |
Last Page |
1547 |
Subject |
Mullerian bodies; Trichilia; Cecropia tessmannii; Cecropia pungara |
Subject LCSH |
Cecropiaceae; Cecropia; Ants -- Ecology; Insect-plant relationships |
Language |
eng |
Bibliographic Citation |
Johnson, H. L. & Davidson, D. W. (1992). Experimental manipulation of food bodies in Cecropia, in Proceedings of the National Conference on Undergraduate Research VI. 1542-7. |
Rights Management |
(c)National Conference on Undergraduate Research |
Format Medium |
application/pdf |
Format Extent |
40,241 bytes |
Identifier |
ir-main,4925 |
ARK |
ark:/87278/s60p1hcx |
Setname |
ir_uspace |
ID |
704600 |
Reference URL |
https://collections.lib.utah.edu/ark:/87278/s60p1hcx |