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Myrmecotrophy is the ability of plants to obtain
Myrmecotrophy is the ability of plants to obtain nutrient
A nutrient is a substance used by an organism to survive, grow, and reproduce. The requirement for dietary nutrient intake applies to animals, plants, fungi, and protists. Nutrients can be incorporated into cells for metabolic purposes or excret ...
s from ant
Ants are eusocial insects of the family Formicidae and, along with the related wasps and bees, belong to the order Hymenoptera. Ants evolved from vespoid wasp ancestors in the Cretaceous period. More than 13,800 of an estimated total of 22 ...
s, a form of mutualism. Due to this behaviour the invasion of vegetation
Vegetation is an assemblage of plant species and the ground cover they provide. It is a general term, without specific reference to particular taxa, life forms, structure, spatial extent, or any other specific botanical or geographic character ...
into harsh environments is promoted.Narendra A and Kumar S. (2006) On Trail with Ants - A Handbook of the Ants of Peninsular India p53 The dead remains of insects thrown out by the ants are absorbed by the lenticular warts in myrmecophyte
Myrmecophytes (; literally "ant-plant") are plants that live in a mutualistic association with a colony of ants. There are over 100 different genera of myrmecophytes. These plants possess structural adaptations that provide ants with food and/o ...
s like ''Hydnophytum
''Hydnophytum'' is a genus of epiphytic myrmecophytes (ant plants) native to Southeast Asia, the Pacific region and also extending into Queensland in northern Australia. The name is derived from the Ancient Greek ''hydnon'' "tuber", and ''phyton ...
'' and ''Myrmecodia
''Myrmecodia'' is a genus of epiphytic myrmecophytes (mər′mek•ə‚fīt; literally "ant-plant"), native to Southeast Asia, but also present in Indochina, Malaysia, the Southwest Pacific, the Philippines, Fiji, and extending south to Queens ...
''.Janzen DH. (1974) Epiphytic Myrmecophytes in Sarawak: Mutualism Through the Feeding of Plants by Ants. ''Biotropica'' 6, 237-259 ''Myrmecodia'' uses its lenticular warts to suck nutrients from the insects thrown out by the ants. The ants in turn benefit with a secure location to form their colony. The pitcher plant
Pitcher plants are several different carnivorous plants which have modified leaves known as pitfall traps—a prey-trapping mechanism featuring a deep cavity filled with digestive liquid. The traps of what are considered to be "true" pitcher p ...
''Nepenthes bicalcarata
''Nepenthes bicalcarata'' (; from Latin for "two-spurred"), also known as the fanged pitcher-plant,Phillipps, A. & A. Lamb 1996. ''Pitcher-Plants of Borneo''. Natural History Publications (Borneo), Kota Kinabalu. is a tropical pitcher plant ende ...
'' obtains an estimated 42% of its total foliar nitrogen
Nitrogen is the chemical element with the symbol N and atomic number 7. Nitrogen is a nonmetal and the lightest member of group 15 of the periodic table, often called the pnictogens. It is a common element in the universe, estimated at se ...
from ant waste.Bazile, V., J.A. Moran, G. Le Moguédec, D.J. Marshall & L. Gaume (2012). A carnivorous plant fed by its ant symbiont: a unique multi-faceted nutritional mutualism. ''PLoS ONE'' 7(5): e36179.
References
{{reflist Myrmecology Plant physiology