Isamara Mendes da Silva

University of São Paulo | USP · Departamento de Biologia (Ribeirão Preto)

As plantas com nectários extraflorais (NEFs) atraem formigas, que podem protegê-las contra a herbivoria e aumentar a produção de frutos. Em alguns casos, porém, as formigas são ineficazes contra os herbívoros. Tais eventos ocorrem, por exemplo, quando os herbívoros apresentam adaptações para evitar a predação pelas formigas. Assim, os resultados de...

Extrafloral nectarized plants attract ants, which may protect them against herbivory and increase plant fruit set production. In some cases, however, ants are ineffective against herbivores. Such events occur, for instance, when herbivores present adaptations to avoid ant predation. Thus, the outputs of these interactions depend on factors such as...

Predatory social wasps are well studied in several aspects; however, foraging behaviour, especially that which takes place away from the nest at often unpredictable locations, or specialized behaviours to find and subdue prey are not well understood. In the Brazilian tropical savanna, the Polistinae wasp Brachygastra lecheguana is specialized in pr...

Biotic defenses, often called indirect defenses, are relationships in which one organism attracts predators of its own enemies. A classic example of biotic defense is the ant-plant mutualism in which ants protect EFN-bearing plants from herbivores, but other interspecific interactions also qualify as biotic defense, including spider-plant, ant-aphi...