Tegelaar, Karolina and Glinwood, Robert and Pettersson, Jan and Leimar, Olof
(2013).
Transgenerational effects and the cost of ant tending
in aphids.
Oecologia. Online First version
, First Online version, without pagination
[Journal article]
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PDF
441kB |
Official URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s00442-013-2659-y
Abstract
In mutualistic interactions, partners obtain a net
benefit, but there may also be costs associated with the
provision of benefits for a partner. The question of whether
aphids suffer such costs when attended by ants has been
raised in previous work. Transgenerational effects, where
offspring phenotypes are adjusted based on maternal
influences, could be important in the mutualistic interaction between aphids and ants, in particular because aphids have telescoping generations where two offspring generations can be present in a mature aphid. We investigated the immediate and transgenerational influence of ant tending on aphid life history and reproduction by observing the interaction between the facultative myrmecophile Aphis fabae and the ant Lasius niger over 13 aphid generations in the laboratory. We found that the effect of ant tending changes dynamically over successive aphid generations after the start of tending. Initially, total aphid colony weight, aphid adult weight and aphid embryo size decreased compared with untended aphids, consistent with a cost of ant association, but these differences disappeared within four generations of interaction. We conclude that transgenerational effects are important in the aphid–ant interactions and that the costs for aphids of being tended by ants can vary over generations.
Authors/Creators: | Tegelaar, Karolina and Glinwood, Robert and Pettersson, Jan and Leimar, Olof |
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Title: | Transgenerational effects and the cost of ant tending in aphids |
Series Name/Journal: | Oecologia |
Year of publishing : | 2013 |
Volume: | Online First version |
Page range: | First Online version, without pagination |
Publisher: | Springer |
ISSN: | 1432-1939 |
Language: | English |
Publication Type: | Journal article |
Refereed: | Yes |
Article category: | Scientific peer reviewed |
Version: | Published version |
Full Text Status: | Public |
Agris subject categories.: | X Agricola extesions > X30 Life sciences |
Subjects: | (A) Swedish standard research categories 2011 > 1 Natural sciences > 106 Biological Sciences (Medical to be 3 and Agricultural to be 4) > Zoology (A) Swedish standard research categories 2011 > 1 Natural sciences > 106 Biological Sciences (Medical to be 3 and Agricultural to be 4) > Ecology |
Keywords: | ants, aphids, mutualism |
URN:NBN: | urn:nbn:se:slu:epsilon-e-1481 |
Permanent URL: | http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:slu:epsilon-e-1481 |
ID Code: | 10470 |
Department: | (NL, NJ) > Dept. of Ecology (S) > Dept. of Ecology |
External funders: | Swedish Research Council |
Deposited By: | Dr Robert Glinwood |
Deposited On: | 24 May 2013 14:14 |
Metadata Last Modified: | 24 Jan 2015 00:46 |
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