myrmecochory

As it looks since the seeds have such structure, they are dispersed through myrmecochory.

Few studies have examined the costs and benefits to ants participating in myrmecochory.

No single hypothesis explains the evolution and persistence of myrmecochory.

This relationship is an example of myrmecochory (the distribution of seeds by ants).

These features are peculiar to myrmecochory, which may thus provide additional benefits not present in other dispersal modes.

The caruncle promotes the dispersal of the seed by ants (myrmecochory).

The flowers are insect-pollinated, with the seeds dispersed by ants (myrmecochory).

Each has an elaiosome, which attracts ants to disperse the seeds (myrmecochory).

Understanding these interactions would help clarify if myrmecochory did evolve seed dispersal syndromes.

The common syndrome traits for myrmecochory are elaisomes, and are often hard and difficult to damage.

A recent phylogenetic study identified more than 100 separate origins of myrmecochory in 55 families of flowering plants.

Natural seed dispersal is by ants (myrmecochory), which eat the sticky covering and then discard the seeds.

Strong selective pressure or the relative ease with which elaiosomes can develop from parent tissues may explain the multiple origins of myrmecochory.

Seed dispersal by ants or myrmecochory is widespread and new estimates suggest that nearly 9% of all plant species may have such ant associations.

The dispersal distance achieved through myrmecochory is likely to provide an advantage proportionate to the spatial scale of density-dependent effects acting on individual plants.

They have diaspores with fleshy appendages indicating dispersal by birds, including the red wattlebird, and ants (myrmecochory).

Seeds dispersed by ants (myrmecochory) are not only dispersed to short distances but are also buried underground by the ants.

Both regions have a Mediterranean climate and largely infertile soils (characterized by low phosphorus availability), two factors that are often cited to explain the distribution of myrmecochory.

In some species the eggs resemble plant seeds, complete with a mimic elaiosome (called a "capitulum") as in plants that are associated with ants in myrmecochory.

Cheating is also inhibited by ecological interactions external to the myrmecochorous interaction; simple models suggest that predation exerts a stabilizing influence on a mutualism such as myrmecochory.

Although myrmecochory is by far the most common dispersal method, white-tailed deer have also been shown to disperse the seeds on rare occasions by ingestion and defecation.

Seed dispersal by ants (myrmecochory) is a dispersal mechanism of many shrubs of the southern hemisphere or understorey herbs of the northern hemisphere.

In addition, phylogenetic comparison of myrmecochorous plant groups reveal that more than half of the lineages in which myrmecochory evolved are more species rich than their non-myrmecochorous sister groups.

It is a representative example of a plant whose seeds are spread through myrmecochory, or ant-mediated dispersal, which is effective in increasing the plant's ability to outcross, but ineffective in bringing the plant very far.

For example, myrmecochory increased the rate of diversification more than twofold in plant groups in which it has evolved because myrmecochorous lineages contain more than twice as many species as their non-myrmecochorous sister groups.