The effect of disturbance on an ant-plant mutualism

*[Pruning was used to simulate the damage to buttonwood mangrove, Conocarpus erectus, caused by hurricanes. Pruned plants grew faster than unpruned plants, produced lower levels of physical anti-herbivore defenses (= trichomes, toughness), & higher levels of chemical defenses (tannins) & extrafloral nectaries. Thus, simulated hurricane damage increased plant growth and the amount of reward provided to ant mutualists, but did not have consistent effects on other anti-herbivore defenses. The most common ant visitors are Camponotus tortuganus, Brachymyrmex obscurior, Crematogaster lucayana, Crematogaster steinheili, Dorymyrmex pyramicus, Pseudomyrmex pallidus, & a Paratrechina sp. Honeydew-producing insects are very rare on C. erectus in the study area, so extrafloral nectaries are the primary attractant for ant visitors. Both herbivores & ants increased in abundance on pruned plants, indicating that the effects of simulated hurricane damage on plant traits were propagated to higher trophic levels. Ant-exclusion led to higher leaf damage on both pruned & upruned plants. The effect of ant-exclusion did not differ between pruned & unpruned plants, despite the fact that pruned plants had higher ant & herbivore densities, produced more extrafloral nectaries, & had fewer physical defenses. Another common predator, clubionid spiders, increased in abundance on pruned plants from which ants had been excluded.]