Integrative and Comparative Biology Advance Access originally published online on March 3, 2008
Integrative and Comparative Biology 2008 48(3):442-443; doi:10.1093/icb/icm107
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Book Review |
The Ecology and Evolution of Ant-Plant Interactions. Victor Rico-Gray and Paulo S. Oliveira.
School of Biological Sciences
Monash University
Melbourne VIC 3800, Australia
Correspondence: E-mail: kirsti.abbott{at}gmail.com
The Ecology and Evolution of Ant-Plant Interactions. Victor Rico-Gray and Paulo S. Oliveira.
Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 2007. 331 p. ISBN 0-226-71347-4 (cloth), $70.00 and ISBN 0-226-71348-2 (paper), $28.00.
This book takes its place in the series: Interspecific Interactions, edited by John N. Thompson. The series includes The Geographic Mosaic of Coevolution (by Thompson himself), and as such, The Ecology and Evolution of Ant-Plant Interactions draws heavily upon many of Thompson's hypotheses in the book and other related articles.
Considering that ants and flowering plants have simultaneously inhabited the planet for at least 100 million years, it seems surprising that research into their associations really only took off in the mid-1960s with the publication of experimental research by Janzen on the relationship between Pseudomyrmex ants and Acacia plants. Until now, the only volume dealing specifically with ant–plant interactions was Beattie's The Evolutionary Ecology of Ant-Plant Mutualisms, published in 1985, and Rico-Gray and Oliveira's monograph, another 20 odd years later is certainly timely.
The field has advanced enormously in the past 20 years, and the table of contents reflects this. There are 12 chapters, including the overview and perspectives chapter, each between 14 and 21 pages in length except for Chapter 6; Antagonism and Mutualism: Direct Interactions (32 pages). This chapter deals with a huge body of work and includes examination of ants, plants and food bodies; ant-inhabited plants; extrafloral nectaries (EFNs); plant defensive strategies and induced responses; conditionality; and is the only chapter to incorporate topics for future consideration. It is the overview and perspectives chapter at the end of the book that endeavors to synthesize all the other chapters and provide a way forward whilst pointing out gaps in research. It emphasizes the importance of studying outcomes of interactions "under a geographic or multiple-site design to assess variation among populations of interacting species and to consider such processes under the theory of the geographic mosaic of coevolution," almost a mantra of Thompson's.
Chapters 1 through 8 are presented along the gradient of ecological interspecific interactions, namely from antagonism to mutualism. Although the author's aim was to synthesize general patterns that go beyond taxonomic boundaries and derive more from the mode of the interaction than from the biology of a particular group, the social nature and variation that ants display make it difficult to transcend their biology. As such, few comparisons are made between ant and non-ant taxa.
Chapters 9 through 11 discuss more general topics and present ant–plant interactions in particular contexts: Canopy-dwelling ants, plant and insect exudates; Variation in ant–plant interactions; and Ant–plant interactions in agriculture. These are areas in which research has really boomed in the last 10–15 years, and each chapter conveys this well. Moreover, the canopy ant chapter provides some of the most up-to-date analyses on ants as herbivores, and on their use of plant and insect exudates in the canopy. In contrast, however, the chapter on ants in agriculture is a disparate collection of research, mainly discussing ants as agents of biological control. The case studies provide good examples of the role of ants in maize and coffee systems in Latin America. The description of the "current" insecticides used in agricultural systems, however, is referenced with an article dated 1989—hardly ‘current’.
Figures are dispersed throughout the book, and used excellently to illustrate specific examples of theory. The tables provide useful lists of species, interactions, citations, and geographic areas in which research has been undertaken.
There are approximately 1120 references listed, an impressive number to use in a text of only 252 pages; the references alone form an invaluable resource on ant–plant interactions. The style of in-text citations, presumably enforced by the publisher, is cumbersome, and can make it a challenge to get through some sections. Articles dated post-2000 are plentiful, but are balanced with older seminal papers and those from smaller, more obscure journals, which will ensure it remains the most up-to-date resource in the field for some time. Having said that, as an early career researcher in the field of invasive ant ecology, I noticed a conspicuous absence of current research on invasive/adventitious ant–plant interactions; disappointing considering Chapter 11 (Ant–plant interactions in agriculture) highlights the increasing need to conduct research in disturbed systems due to the loss of natural ecosystems worldwide. It is in these disturbed systems that invasive species thrive, and can amplify direct and indirect effects of ant–plant interactions.
The book is an essential compendium of information for anyone in the field of ants, plants, and their interactions. Moreover, it places ant–plant interactions in the larger context of the geographic mosaic of coevolution, and broader ecological theory, and will be a useful text for ecologists generally. Rico-Gray and Oliveira have produced a thorough and well-timed synthesis of an incredibly diverse field.
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