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Leafcutting And Diet Selection: Relative Influence Of Leaf Chemistry And Physical Features, Jerome J. Howard
Leafcutting And Diet Selection: Relative Influence Of Leaf Chemistry And Physical Features, Jerome J. Howard
Biological Sciences Faculty Publications
The effects of leaf toughness, trichome characteristics, nutrient and water availability, and secondary chemistry on diet selection by the leafcutting ant Atta cephalotes were determined using individuals of 49 woody plant species from a tropical deciduous forest in Costa Rica. The palatability of plants was measured by presenting whole leaves to leafcutting ant foragers on trails and counting the number of pieces cut from leaves. The effectiveness of physical barriers to leaf cutting was evaluated by measuring the speed with which ants were able to cut leaves of varying toughness, trichome densities, and trichome lengths. Plant secondary chemistry was highly …