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- Title
The Guild of Myrmecochores in the Herbaceous Flora of West Virginia Forests.
- Authors
Beattie, Andrew J.; Culver, David C.
- Abstract
Analysis of herbaceous vegetation and ant activity in random quadrats from 10 forest sites in West Virginia, USA, shows that ant-dispersed (myrmecochorous) plant species constitute about 30% of the herbaceous flora. Twenty-one such species were encountered in this study, three of which were not previously known myrmecochores: Carex jamesii, C. laxiculmis and Luzula echinata. Ant activity is a good predictor of the number of myrmecochorous species at a given site. There is also a weak correlation between ant activity and overall herbaceous species richness. A matrix of correlation coefficients and Wisconsin ordination suggest that the ant-dispersed species constitute a guild. The number of species in a guild for a given site may be limited by competition for ant diaspore vectors, and/or germination microsites. These resources are likely to be especially critical for shade-adapted forest herbs which experience nutrient stress. The ant-diaspore mutualism is viewed as a strategy to overcome nutrient scarcity, and the present study shows clearly that it is a major factor in forest herbaceous communities.
- Subjects
HERBACEOUS plants; PLANT species; DIASPORE; MUTUALISM; FOREST plants
- Publication
Ecology, 1981, Vol 62, Issue 1, p107
- ISSN
0012-9658
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.2307/1936674