Estudio morfoanatómico de semillas mirmecócoras en un ecosistema semiárido venezolano

First observations on diaspore dispersion by ants in a coastal venezuelan comunity show the existence of highly probable myrmecocore plants. Morphoanatomical studies made on nine species have pointed out some adaptation features which show, among others, specialized structures as, for instance, eleo...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores: Escala, Marcia, Enrech, Nereida Xena de
Tipo de recurso: artículo
Fecha de publicación:1991
País:España
Institución:Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona
Repositorio:Dipòsit Digital de Documents de la UAB
Idioma:español
OAI Identifier:oai:ddd.uab.cat:38974
Acceso en línea:https://ddd.uab.cat/record/38974
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palabra clave:Myrmecocory
Eleosoma
Diaspore
Morphoanatomy
Descripción
Sumario:First observations on diaspore dispersion by ants in a coastal venezuelan comunity show the existence of highly probable myrmecocore plants. Morphoanatomical studies made on nine species have pointed out some adaptation features which show, among others, specialized structures as, for instance, eleosoma in some of the species and, fat rich epidermic cells in others. It has been possible to evidence the attraction that these fatfull excrecences excert into the ants (transportation tests). Regarding the ants, following are the species that have been collected up to now: Conomyrma sp., Solenopsis geminafa and Pheidole sp. These preliminar observations seems to indicate that the myrmecocory in our study area would have special caracteristics, wich will be different that those of other latitudes. We are particulaly interested in confirming whether myrmecocoral diaspore transportation (either when this is done by ants whose main diet is these seedsd or by those that doesn't) is efficient enough to keep the system and this able to avoid the possibility of a secondary dispersion system emergence.