Plant-Pollinator and Plant-Florivore Interactions in Two Savanna Species of Malpighiaceae.

Plant density influences interspecific interactions such as pollination and herbivory. In denser populations, pollinators find flowers more easily, increasing reproductive success and population growth. However, the same floral attractiveness also favors floral herbivory, a relationship described by Janzen and Connell as negative density dependence, considered an important mechanism for maintaining tropical diversity.

Sequential Defense Strategies: From Ant Recruitment to Leaf Toughness.

Plants express many types of defenses in response to herbivory damage. These defenses can be displayed as a sequence or they can overlap, increasing efficiency in protection. However, leaf defense shifts during leaf development, including extrafloral nectaries (EFNs), are neglected in natural tropical systems.

Emerging Trends in Ant-Pollinator Conflict in Extrafloral Nectary-Bearing Plants.

The net outcomes of mutualisms are mediated by the trade-offs between the costs and benefits provided by both partners. Our review proposes the existence of a trade-off in ant protection mutualisms between the benefits generated by the ants' protection against the attack of herbivores and the losses caused by the disruption of pollination processes, which are commonly not quantified. This trade-off has important implications for understanding the evolution of extrafloral nectaries (EFNs), an adaptation that has repeatedly evolved throughout the flowering plant clade.

Context-Dependent Ant-Pollinator Mutualism Impacts Fruit Set in a Hummingbird-Pollinated Plant.

Context-dependence in mutualisms is a fundamental aspect of ecological interactions. Within plant-ant mutualisms, particularly in terms of biotic protection and pollination, research has predominantly focused on elucidating the benefits while largely overlooking potential costs. This notable gap underscores the need for investigations into the drawbacks and trade-offs associated with such mutualistic relationships.

Flowering Time Variation in Two Sympatric Tree Species Contributes to Avoid Competition for Pollinator Services.

Competition is an important biological filter that can define crucial features of species' natural history, like survival and reproduction success. We evaluated in the Brazilian tropical savanna whether two sympatric and congenereric species, Mart. and Mart.

In search of unusual interactions. A commentary on: 'Pollen adaptation to ant pollination: a case study from the Proteaceae'.

This article comments on: Nicola Delnevo, Eddie J van Etten, Nicola Clemente, Luna Fogu, Evelina Pavarani, Margaret Byrne and William D Stock, Pollen adaptation to ant pollination: a case study from the Proteaceae, Annals of Botany, Volume 126, Issue 3, 1 September 2020, Pages 377–389, https://doi.org/10.1093/aob/mcaa058.

Environmental variables drive phenological events of anemocoric plants and enhance diaspore dispersal potential: A new wind-based approach.

Phenological studies of Brazilian savanna vegetation have described a generalized phenological pattern for all species, mainly based on rainfall and temperature. Few studies have considered wind as an explanatory factor; abiotic factors may impact differently on phenophases, and one phenophase may influence the performance of another. Thus, we aim to describe the phenological patterns of five anemocoric plant species (Aspidosperma tomentosum, Dalbergia miscolobium, Kielmeyera coriacea, Peixotoa tomentosa and Qualea multiflora) in the face of different climatic conditions, mainly evaluating the effects of wind on the ripe diaspore.

Beneficial Effects of Ants and Spiders on the Reproductive Value of Eriotheca gracilipes (Malvaceae) in a Tropical Savanna.

Predators affect plant fitness when they forage on them and reduce the action of herbivores. Our study evaluates the complementary effects of spiders and ants that visit the extrafloral nectaries of Eriotheca gracilipes (Malvaceae) on the production of fruits and viable seeds of these savanna trees. Four experimental groups were established: control group - with free access of spiders and ants; exclusion group - spiders and ants excluded; ant group - absence of spiders; and spider group - absence of ants.

Pollination of Adenocalymma bracteatum (Bignoniaceae): floral biology and visitors.

Adenocalymma bracteatum is a shrub of dense foliage and yellow flowers, easily found on grasslands areas in Central Brazil. The aim of this study was to determine the reproductive biology and the flower visitors of A. bracteatum in a pasture area nearby Ivinhema city, MS (Brazil).

Insect-plant interactions: new pathways to a better comprehension of ecological communities in Neotropical savannas.

The causal mechanisms shaping and structuring ecological communities are among the most important themes in ecology. The study of insect-plant interactions in trophic nets is pointed out as basic to improve our knowledge on this issue. The cerrado tropical savanna, although extremely diverse, distributed in more than 20% of the Brazilian territory and filled up with rich examples of multitrophic interactions, is underexplored in terms of biodiversity interaction.