Clément Aubert

Université de Montpellier | UM1 · Département Biologie Écologie

Nature conservation requires effective population monitoring, which necessitates regular, reliable surveys. I expect to develop new methods to inventory and monitor populations, and collect biometric data.

Ant-plants, also called myrmecophytes, provide nesting sites (specialized hollow structures called domatia) and food (extrafloral nectar, food bodies, etc.) to ants. In return, ants protect the host plant against herbivores, pathogens and competing vegetation (Letourneau 1998, Suarez et al 1998, Rosumek et al 2009). Several species of plant-ants are known to prune or kill plants growing close to their host plant (e.g. Frederickson et al 2005, Larrea-Alcázar et al 2007). They also cut or remove encroaching vines that touch their host plant. To do that they must discriminate their own host plant against all other plants (e.g.Davidson et al 1988). Pruning of host plant neighbors by ants: an experimental approach. Ecology, 801-808.). The proximate mechanisms of host plant discrimination has been little studied. As nestmate discrimination in ants is based on olfactory detection of cuticular compounds, I hypothesize that host-plant discrimination is based on olfactory detection of plant surface compounds. I propose a series of experiments to test this hypothesis.