mutualisms and population regulation mechanism matters互利共生和人口管理机制问题.pdfVIP

Mutualisms and Population Regulation: Mechanism Matters 1 2 3 4 5 Shalene Jha *, David Allen , Heidi Liere , Ivette Perfecto , John Vandermeer 1 Department of Integrative Biology, University of Texas, Austin, Texas, United States of America, 2 Department of Biology, Middlebury College, Middlebury, Vermont, United States of America, 3 Department of Entomology, University of Wisconsin, Madison, Wisconsin, United States of America, 4 School of Natural Resources and Environment, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan, United States of America, 5 Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan, United States of America Abstract For both applied and theoretical ecological science, the mutualism between ants and their hemipteran partners is iconic. In this well-studied interaction, ants are assumed to provide hemipterans protection from natural enemies in exchange for nutritive honeydew. Despite decades of research and the potential importance in pest control, the precise mechanism producing this mutualism remains contested. By analyzing maximum likelihood parameter estimates of a hemipteran population model, we show that the mechanism of the mutualism is direct, via improved hemipteran growth rates, as opposed to the frequently assumed indirect mechanism, via harassment of the specialist parasites and predators of the hemipterans. Broadly, this study demonstrates that the management of mutualism-based ecosystem services requires a mechanistic understanding of mutualistic interactions. A consequence of this finding is the counter intuitive demonstration that preserving ant participation in the ant-hemipteran mutualism may be the best way of insuring p