Distinguishing Symbiotic Partners of Acropyga Ants from Free-Living Soil Inhabitants
Distinguishing Symbiotic Partners of Acropyga Ants from Free-Living Soil Inhabitants
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DOI：
10.1007/s13744-022-00948-9
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发表时间：
2022-02-09
影响因子：
1.8
通讯作者：
LaPolla, John S.
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Schneider, Scott A.;Sodano, James;LaPolla, John S.
对蚂蚁和介壳虫之间的关联进行了卓有成效的研究，深入了解了形成这些共生环境的机制。野外采集提供了将配对物种联系在一起的基本信息，因此，野外采集技术在已出版的文献中反映真实的物种对物种的伙伴关系至关重要。同样重要的是，这种做法限制了将自由生活的“邻居”误认为共生伙伴和发布错误联想的可能性。本文描述了一种收集地下鳞虫和相关的尖头蚁的协议，该协议依赖工蚁的活动来分类和区分碰巧生活在蚁群附近的自由生活的鳞虫和共生体。通过将蚂蚁和鳞片的样本收集到巢箱中，并允许几个小时的休息时间，工蚁将把共生伙伴聚集成密集的、受保护的集群，在这些集群中，共生体得到积极的照顾。与群落相邻的自由生活的鳞片昆虫可以与群落样本一起从土壤中收集，但这些自由生活的个体被排除在保护群落之外，被工作人员忽视。在确认蚂蚁出席之后，真正的共生伙伴可以自信地被收集、保存和记录下来，以供未来研究。我们使用秘鲁的案例研究来说明采用这种收集协议的价值。
The fruitful study of associations between ants and scale insects yields insight into the mechanisms that shape these symbioses. Field collections provide the basic information linking partnered species, and as such it is critical that collection techniques from the field reflect true species-to-species partnerships in the published literature. It is equally critical that such practices limit the potential for mistaking free-living "neighbors" for symbiotic partners and publishing erroneous associations. This article describes a protocol for collecting subterranean scale insects and associated Acropyga Roger ants, which relies upon the activity of worker ants to sort and distinguish symbionts from free-living scale insects that happen to live near the colony. By collecting samples of ants and scales into nest boxes and allowing a resting period of several hours, worker ants will gather symbiotic partners into dense, protected clusters in which symbionts are actively tended. Free-living scale insects neighboring the colony can be collected from soil along with colony samples, but these free-living individuals are excluded from protective clusters and ignored by workers. Following confirmation of ant attendance, true symbiotic partners can be confidently collected, preserved, and recorded for future study. We illustrate the value of employing this collection protocol using a case study from Peru.