The assembly of ant-farmed gardens: mutualism specialization following host broadening
The assembly of ant-farmed gardens: mutualism specialization following host broadening
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DOI：
10.1098/rspb.2016.1759
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发表时间：
2017-03-15
影响因子：
4.7
通讯作者：
Renner, Susanne S.
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Chomicki, Guillaume;Janda, Milan;Renner, Susanne S.
蚂蚁花园（Ant-gardens，AG）是蚂蚁与植物的互惠共生，蚂蚁通过种植附生植物来换取巢穴空间和食物奖励。它们出现在新热带和澳大拉西亚，但不在非洲，它们的进化组装仍然不清楚。我们在这里使用系统发育框架的重要AG血统在澳大拉西亚，即蚂蚁属Philidris和domatium轴承蕨类植物（Lecanopteris）和开花植物夹竹桃科（球兰属和Dischidia）和Rubiaceae（Myrmecodia，Hydnophytum，Anthorrhiza，Myrmephytum和Squamellaria）。我们的分析表明，在这些分支，由蚂蚁的水囊藻传播进化至少13次，5次在晚中新世和上新世在澳大拉西亚和7次在上新世在东南亚，Philidris蚂蚁到达后，随后在这两个地区之间的传播。一个独特的专业AG系统在斐济的第四纪开始演变。在不提供巢穴空间的同一AG真菌中种植表明，蚂蚁植物宿主谱的拓宽通过选择预适应的形态特征推动了额外的带有菌域的AG真菌的进化。与此相一致，我们发现了一个统计相关性的进化之间的扩散的蚂蚁和domatia在所有三个谱系。我们的研究强调了共生体如何扩大宿主范围，导致新的农业互惠关系。
Ant-gardens (AGs) are ant/plant mutualisms in which ants farm epiphytes in return for nest space and food rewards. They occur in the Neotropics and Australasia, but not in Africa, and their evolutionary assembly remains unclear. We here use phylogenetic frameworks for important AG lineages in Australasia, namely the ant genus Philidris and domatium-bearing ferns (Lecanopteris) and flowering plants in the Apocynaceae (Hoya and Dischidia) and Rubiaceae (Myrmecodia, Hydnophytum, Anthorrhiza, Myrmephytum and Squamellaria). Our analyses revealed that in these clades, diaspore dispersal by ants evolved at least 13 times, five times in the Late Miocene and Pliocene in Australasia and seven times during the Pliocene in Southeast Asia, after Philidris ants had arrived there, with subsequent dispersal between these two areas. A uniquely specialized AG system evolved in Fiji at the onset of the Quaternary. The farming in the same AG of epiphytes that do not offer nest spaces suggests that a broadening of the ants' plant host spectrum drove the evolution of additional domatium-bearing AG-epiphytes by selecting on pre-adapted morphological traits. Consistent with this, we found a statistical correlation between the evolution of diaspore dispersal by ants and domatia in all three lineages. Our study highlights how host broadening by a symbiont has led to new farming mutualisms.