The multidimensional nutritional niche of fungus-cultivar provisioning in free-ranging colonies of a neotropical leafcutter ant,Ecology Letters

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The multidimensional nutritional niche of fungus-cultivar provisioning in free-ranging colonies of a neotropical leafcutter ant
Ecology Letters ( IF 7.6 ) Pub Date : 2021-08-21 , DOI: 10.1111/ele.13865
Antonin J J Crumière ₁ , Aidan James ₁ , Pol Lannes ₁ , Sophie Mallett ₁ , Anders Michelsen ₂ , Riikka Rinnan ₂ , Jonathan Z Shik _{1,

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Foraging trails of leafcutter colonies are iconic scenes in the Neotropics, with ants collecting freshly cut plant fragments to provision a fungal food crop. We hypothesised that the fungus-cultivar's requirements for macronutrients and minerals govern the foraging niche breadth of Atta colombica leafcutter ants. Analyses of plant fragments carried by foragers showed how nutrients from fruits, flowers and leaves combine to maximise cultivar performance. While the most commonly foraged leaves delivered excess protein relative to the cultivar's needs, in vitro experiments showed that the minerals P, Al and Fe may expand the leafcutter foraging niche by enhancing the cultivar's tolerance to protein-biased substrates. A suite of other minerals reduces cultivar performance in ways that may render plant fragments with optimal macronutrient blends unsuitable for provisioning. Our approach highlights how the nutritional challenges of provisioning a mutualist can govern the multidimensional realised niche available to a generalist insect herbivore.

中文翻译：

新热带切叶蚁自由放养群落中真菌品种供应的多维营养生态位

切叶蚁群的觅食轨迹是新热带地区的标志性场景，蚂蚁收集新鲜切割的植物碎片以提供真菌粮食作物。我们假设真菌品种对宏量营养素和矿物质的需求控制着Atta colombica的觅食生态位宽度切叶蚁。对觅食者携带的植物碎片的分析表明，水果、花朵和叶子的营养成分如何结合起来以最大限度地提高品种的性能。虽然最常觅食的叶子相对于品种的需要提供了过量的蛋白质，但体外实验表明，矿物质 P、Al 和 Fe 可以通过增强品种对蛋白质偏向基质的耐受性来扩大切叶植物的觅食生态位。一系列其他矿物质会降低栽培品种的性能，从而可能使具有最佳常量营养素混合物的植物碎片不适合供应。我们的方法强调了提供互惠互利者的营养挑战如何控制多维已实现的生态位可用于多面手昆虫食草动物。

更新日期：2021-10-08

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