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Seed selection and removal by ants in a tropical savanna woodland in northern Australia

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 July 2009

C. L. Gross ,
M. A. Whalen  and
M. H. Andrew
C. L. Gross
Affiliation:
School of Biological Sciences, The Flinders University of South Australia, GPO Box 2100, Adelaide, SA 5001, Australia
M. A. Whalen
Affiliation:
School of Biological Sciences, The Flinders University of South Australia, GPO Box 2100, Adelaide, SA 5001, Australia
M. H. Andrew
Affiliation:
CSIRO, Division of Tropical Crops and Pastures, Darwin Laboratories, PMB 44 Winnelie, NT 5789, Australia.
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Abstract

Ant species in the genera Chelaner, Meranoplus and Pheidole were found to be seed-harvesters in a tropical savanna woodland in northern Australia. Despite the availability of other seed types (legume seeds in particular were abundant), all five seed-harvesting species studied are specialists in that they store only grass seeds. Depot experiments, in which seeds were placed along foraging trails, also indicate a preference for grass seeds over legume seeds. At least for some ant species the handling efficiency of legume seeds may be less than that of grass seeds. Marked differences in seed composition of granaries were observed among different seed-harvesting ant species and among colonies of the same species at different sites. All ant species studied, except Pheidole sp. 1, stored only one type of grass seed in granaries at any site despite the availability of other seed types. This contrasts with studies conducted elsewhere in Australia in which generalist foraging by seed-harvesters was found to be common. With the possible exception of Pheidole, dietary specialization docs not appear to arise from a low diversity or abundance of seed supplies. In addition to differences in seed preferences, species of seed-harvesting ants also exhibited some differences in temporal foraging behaviour and some partitioning of resources may be occurring among these co-occurring species. Temporal overlap in foraging, however, was much greater than dietary overlap. The viability of granary seeds was very low for three ant species suggesting that seeds stored by these ants were largely predated rather than dispersed.

Keywords

Australiasavanna woodlandseed-harvesting antsseed predationseed viabilityspecialist foraging
Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Tropical Ecology , Volume 7 , Issue 1 , February 1991 , pp. 99 - 112
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1991

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