caa a22 4500 467889724 CHVBK 20180406152745.0 cr unu---uuuuu 170328e20061201xx s 000 0 eng 10.1007/s00049-006-0356-6 doi (NATIONALLICENCE)springer-10.1007/s00049-006-0356-6 Integrating phenological, chemical and biotic defences in ant-plant protection mutualisms: a case study of two myrmecophyte lineages [Elektronische Daten] [Laurent Amsellem, Doyle McKey] Summary.: We examined the role of plant phenology in the evolution of anti-herbivore defence in symbiotic ant-plant protection mutualisms. Phenology of the host-plant affects traits of its herbivores, including size, growth rate, development time, and gregariousness. Traits of herbivores in turn determine what traits ants must have to protect their host. Diversity in plant phenological traits could thus help explain the great ecological diversity of coevolved ant-plant mutualisms. We explored the postulated causal chain linking phenology of the plant, herbivore adaptations to phenology, and ant adaptations for protection, by comparing two myrmecophytes presenting strong contrasts in phenology. In Leonardoxa africana, a slow-growing understory tree, growth at each twig terminal is intermittent, the rapid flushing of a single leaf-bearing internode being followed by a pause of several months. In contrast, axes of Barteria nigritana, a tree of open areas, grow continuously. Analysis of the phenology (kinetics of expansion) and chemistry of leaf development (contents of chlorophylls, lignin, and nitrogen during leaf growth) showed that these two species exhibit strongly contrasting strategies. Leonardoxa exhibited a delayed greening strategy, with rapid expansion of leaves during a short period, followed by synthesis of chlorophylls and lignins only after final leaf size has been reached. In contrast, leaves of Barteria expanded more slowly, with chlorophylls and lignin gradually synthesised throughout development. Differences in the phenology of leaf development are reflected in differences in the duration of larval development, and thereby in size, of the principal lepidopteran herbivores observed on these two plants. This difference may in turn have led to different requirements for effective defence by ants. The strategy of phenological defence may thus affect the evolution of biotic defence. Birkhäuser Verlag, Basel, 2006 Myrmecophytes nationallicence Coevolution nationallicence Delayed greening nationallicence Leaf growth nationallicence Chemical defences nationallicence Indirect defence nationallicence Leonardoxa nationallicence Fabaceae nationallicence Barteria nationallicence Passifloraceae nationallicence Amsellem Laurent Laboratoire de Génétique et Evolution des Populations Végétales, Bâtiment SN2, Université des Sciences et Technologies de Lille 1, F-59655, Villeneuve d'Ascq Cedex, France aut McKey Doyle Equipe Coévolution, Centre d'Ecologie Fonctionnelle et Evolutive, UMR 5175 CNRS, 1919 route de Mende, F-34293, Montpellier Cedex 5, France aut CHEMOECOLOGY Birkhäuser-Verlag; www.birkhäuser.ch 16/4(2006-12-01), 223-234 0937-7409 16:4<223 2006 16 49 https://doi.org/10.1007/s00049-006-0356-6 text/html Onlinezugriff via DOI 1 research-article jats NATIONALLICENCE 856 40 https://doi.org/10.1007/s00049-006-0356-6 text/html Onlinezugriff via DOI NATIONALLICENCE 700 1- Amsellem Laurent Laboratoire de Génétique et Evolution des Populations Végétales, Bâtiment SN2, Université des Sciences et Technologies de Lille 1, F-59655, Villeneuve d'Ascq Cedex, France aut NATIONALLICENCE 700 1- McKey Doyle Equipe Coévolution, Centre d'Ecologie Fonctionnelle et Evolutive, UMR 5175 CNRS, 1919 route de Mende, F-34293, Montpellier Cedex 5, France aut NATIONALLICENCE 773 0- CHEMOECOLOGY Birkhäuser-Verlag; www.birkhäuser.ch 16/4(2006-12-01), 223-234 0937-7409 16:4<223 2006 16 49 Metadata rights reserved Springer special CC-BY-NC licence nationallicence BK010053 XK010053 XK010000 NATIONALLICENCE NATIONALLICENCE NL-springer