5th International Symposium-Workshop on Frugivores and Seed Dispersal (1985-2010)
FSD 2010 - News
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With or Without Fruit-Eating Ants
The Ant Paradox : With or Without You ! Two recent studies in Biotropica described the contrasting impact of frugivores ants for plant ecology. On the one hand, Dennis Hansen and the late Christine Muller performed a very interesting experiment demonstrating that an invasive ant can negatively affect seed dispersal by an e
ndemic Gecko in Mauritius. On the other hand, Carlos Garcia-Robledo and Erin Kuprewicz also conducted seed-removal laboratory trails showing that whether fruit are ingested and dispersed by vertebrate in the field, nonetheless, ants were positively contributing to seed dispersal at short distances and facilitate germination when manipulating seeds. As early emphasized 
by Elena Gorb and Stanislav Gorb in their book dedicated to seed dispersal by ants, Myrmecochory still remain a very interesting and rather enigmatic form of mutualistic ant-plant associations. It is surely extremely complex given hundreds of ant species that are connected with hundreds of plant species. See Photos in frugivores gallery.
References