Seed dispersal by ants is an important means of migration for plants. Many myrmecochorous plants have specialized appendages in their seeds called elaiosome, which provides nutritional rewards for ants, and enable effective seed dispersal. However, some nonmyrmecochorous seeds without elaiosomes are also dispersed by ant species, suggesting the additional mechanisms other than elaiosomes for seed dispersal by ants. The seeds of the achlorophyllous and myco-heterotrophic herbaceous plant Monotropastrum humile are very small without elaiosomes; we investigated whether odor of the seeds could mediate seed dispersal by ants. We performed a bioassay using seeds of M. humile and the ant Nylanderia flavipes to demonstrate ant-mediated seed dispersal. We also analyzed the volatile odors emitted from M. humile seeds and conducted bioassays using dummy seeds coated with seed volatiles. Although elaiosomes were absent from the M. humile seeds, the ants carried the seeds to their nests. They also carried the dummy seeds coated with the seed volatile mixture to the nest and left some dummy seeds inside the nest and discarded the rest of the dummy seeds outside the nest with a bias toward specific locations, which might be conducive to germination. We concluded that, in M. humile seeds, volatile odor mixtures were sufficient to induce seed-carrying behavior by the ants even without elaiosomes.

中文翻译：

---

无叶绿素植物种子的气味驱使散播种子的蚂蚁

蚂蚁传播种子是植物迁徙的重要方式。许多食蚁兽植物在它们的种子中有专门的附属物，称为 elaiosome，它为蚂蚁提供营养奖励，并能够有效地传播种子。然而，一些没有 elaiosomes 的 nonmyrmecochorous 种子也被蚂蚁物种传播，这表明除了 elaiosomes 之外，蚂蚁传播种子的其他机制。无叶绿素和分枝异养草本植物Monotropastrum humile的种子非常小，没有弹性体；我们调查了种子的气味是否会介导蚂蚁传播种子。我们使用M 的种子进行了生物测定。humile和蚂蚁Nylanderia flavipes证明蚂蚁介导的种子传播。我们还分析了M散发的挥发性气味。humile种子并使用涂有种子挥发物的假种子进行生物测定。虽然elaiosomes来自缺席中号。谦卑的种子，蚂蚁把种子带到它们的巢穴。他们还将涂有种子挥发性混合物的假种子带到巢穴，并在巢内留下一些假种子，并将其余的假种子丢弃在巢外，偏向特定位置，这可能有利于发芽。我们得出结论，在M。谦虚 对于种子，即使没有弹性体，挥发性气味混合物也足以诱导蚂蚁携带种子的行为。