9: Insects That Provide Protection for Plants Check Access

This chapter describes examples of mutualistic interactions between plants and insects in which plants lure insects that then provide defense for the plants. Myrmecophytes or ant plants are the best studied examples of these types of mutualism. Chamber-like structures or hollow thorns on trees accommodate the ants. Food bodies and extrafloral nectaries attract and nourish them. Cecropia trees, abundant in tropical rain forests of Central America, are ant plants. Azteca ants live well-protected inside the stems and have their nests there. Special food bodies offer a variety of nutrients, with varying compositions in different plants. In the case of Cecropia, food bodies at the base of the leaf stalks provide glycogen which is the main storage polysaccharide in animal cells and fungi; it is an unusual plant product. Acacia trees (Acacia sp., Mimosaceae) are well-known for their extrafloral nectaries that attract ants. Acacias native to Central America have extrafloral nectaries, as well as food bodies that offer nutrition for specialized ants. Herbaceous plants can be ant plants as well. The examples of the fanged pitcher plant (Nepenthes bicalcarata) and the serpentine columbine (Aquilegia eximia) are described.