Ant's protective behavior toward aphids: an implication of mutualistic relationship.

Abstract

The basic idea of mutualistic relationship is that different kinds of organisms benefit each other. Ants and aphids build this relationship. Ants can obtain the only stationary and immediately renewable food source, honeydew. Aphids, in turn, can have their environment protected, so that their fitness increases. I tested whether ants show protective behavior with the presence of aphids, and whether there is a difference of ant behaviors between when with and without predators, Coleomegilla maculata and Chrysoperla carneia. I selected six shoots of milkweed, which were colonized by both ants and aphids, near UMBS, Pellston, northern Michigan. After introducing a predator at a time to a plant, I counted the times of events occurred, categorizing each event to either protective or non-protective behavior. Ant behavior was primarily protective toward aphids population. This result may represent the clear evidence that ants protect aphids regularly in exchange of the benefit that they obtain from this mutualistic relationship.