This is a section through the caudex (thickened stem) of an ant plant – Hydnophytum moseleyanum. These plants live as epiphytes high in the canopy of tropical rain forests. They get plenty of water up there from the rain, but very few nutrients since they dont root in soil. So they have developed strategies to attract ants as little helpers! The plant grows enlarged stems with built-in chambers called domatia and little holes as entrances – perfect for ants seeking a nest high up in the trees. The ants in turn collect food and pay the plant with fertilizer, as well as a powerful sting to protect their home from marauding animals that would try to eat it. Co-evolution at its best – plant-insect cooperation in nature doesnt always have to do with pollination!
English: Myrmecodia beccarii (Ant Plant) growing epiphytically on Lophostemom suaveolens with Dischidia nummularia (Button Orchid – not a true orchid) in wetlands of tropical north Queensland, Australia. You can see Dischidia flowers silhouetted against the sky in the fork of the tree, and three tear-drop shaped fruits immediately above the two largest Myrmecodia leaves.
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"For instance, in [sic] Australian Myrmecodia plants, which may weigh several kilograms, have a bulbous stem honeycombed with tunnels occupied by the ant Iridomyrmex (and, in addition, a butterfly larva). Ants living in such 'ant-house' plants clearly gain protection: is there any advantage to the plant? Another myrmecophyte species, Hydnophytum formicarium, has specialised absorptive chambers. Ants deposit their debris here, and it has been demonstrated experimentally that when the colony is fed radioactively labelled Drosophila larvae radioactive compounds are absorbed into the plant. The relationship is therefore mutual: ants obtain shelter, and the plants a supply of scarce nutrients, particularly nitrogen. Saprophytic fungi growing in the ant galleries probably play a role in releasing soluble nutrients from the ant debris. To make the situation even more complicated, the ants also tend larvae of the butterfly Hypochrysops which feed on the tubers and leaves of the ant plant. An epiphytic plant therefore grows on a mangrove tree, accommodates ants, which tend butterfly larvae and supply nutrients to their host, aided by fungi: two plants, one or more fungi, and two animal species interacting (Huxley 1978; Janzen 1974)." (Hogarth 1999:58)Book
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Book
The Biology of Mangroves and Seagrasses (Biology of Habitats Series)May 31, 2007
Journal article
THE ANT-PLANTS MYRMECODIA AND HYDNOPHYTUM (RUBIACEAE), AND THE RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN THEIR MORPHOLOGY, ANT OCCUPANTS, PHYSIOLOGY AND ECOLOGYNew PhytologistMay 2, 2006
Journal article
Epiphytic Myrmecophytes in Sarawak: Mutualism Through the Feeding of Plants by AntsBiotropicaMay 4, 2006
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I would like to extrapolate this to how human communities can function with mutualism – getting past people’s fears of the “other”and working on the abstractions of bringing individual strengths (functions) to the common good (habitat health). Do you have any other strategies to suggest?
Hello Juan, The abstract is about all of the participants: epiphyte, mangrove, ant, fungus, and butterfly. Myrmecodia is the bio-inspired species even though the strategy is about mangrove forests because AskNature tries to link to a species or genus where possible. In truth, it would have been better if the strategy could be linked to all of the organisms involved, but for now AskNature can only show one link. By including mangrove forests in the strategy title, the mangrove forest itself becomes the "organism." Maybe there's a better solution than that?
the strategy title is about mangrove forests, but the abstract is related to a plant called Myrmecodia