| Title |
Egg Dispersal in the Phasmatodea: Convergence in Chemical Signaling Strategies Between Plants and Animals?
|
|---|---|
| Published in |
Journal of Chemical Ecology, August 2015
|
| DOI | 10.1007/s10886-015-0604-8 |
| Pubmed ID | |
| Authors |
Anthony O. Stanton, Daniel A. Dias, James C. O’Hanlon |
| Abstract |
Numerous tree species' seeds contain an 'elaiosome' that acts as a food reward for ants and thus induces dispersal of the seeds. Many stick and leaf insect species appear to have evolved a convergent adaptation for dispersal whereby the egg 'capitulum' serves to induce ants to pick up and carry their eggs. Here, we investigated whether the capitulum facilitates egg dispersal by ants in the Australian stick insect Eurycnema goliath. The total fatty acid composition of E. goliath egg capsules and egg capitula were characterized to identify potential signaling compounds. Removing capitula from E. goliath eggs significantly reduced the likelihood of eggs being carried into the nests of Rhytidoponera metallica ants. Furthermore, attaching capitula to inert objects (polystyrene balls) resulted in these objects being carried into nests by R. metallica. Several fatty acids were present on the egg capsule surface in only trace amounts, whereas they made up over 10 % of the dry weight of egg capitula. The fatty acid composition of egg capitula consisted mostly of palmitic acid (C16:0), linoleic acid (C18: 2n6c), oleic acid (C18:1n9c), linolenic acid (C18:3n3), and stearic acid (C18:0). Previously reported research has found that a diglyceride lipid species of oleic acid induces carrying behavior in R. metallica when added to inert artificial stimuli. Therefore, we propose that the dispersal mechanism of E. goliath eggs has converged upon the same chemical signaling pathway used by plants to exploit ant behavior. |
X Demographics
The data shown below were collected from the profiles of 46 X users who shared this research output. Click here to find out more about how the information was compiled.
Geographical breakdown
| Country | Count | As % |
|---|---|---|
| United Kingdom | 5 | 11% |
| Spain | 4 | 9% |
| Australia | 4 | 9% |
| United States | 3 | 7% |
| South Africa | 1 | 2% |
| Netherlands | 1 | 2% |
| Colombia | 1 | 2% |
| Israel | 1 | 2% |
| Chile | 1 | 2% |
| Other | 0 | 0% |
| Unknown | 25 | 54% |
Demographic breakdown
| Type | Count | As % |
|---|---|---|
| Members of the public | 39 | 85% |
| Scientists | 5 | 11% |
| Practitioners (doctors, other healthcare professionals) | 1 | 2% |
| Science communicators (journalists, bloggers, editors) | 1 | 2% |
Mendeley readers
The data shown below were compiled from readership statistics for 45 Mendeley readers of this research output. Click here to see the associated Mendeley record.
Geographical breakdown
| Country | Count | As % |
|---|---|---|
| United States | 1 | 2% |
| Brazil | 1 | 2% |
| Unknown | 43 | 96% |
Demographic breakdown
| Readers by professional status | Count | As % |
|---|---|---|
| Student > Ph. D. Student | 8 | 18% |
| Student > Bachelor | 7 | 16% |
| Researcher | 5 | 11% |
| Student > Master | 5 | 11% |
| Professor > Associate Professor | 3 | 7% |
| Other | 5 | 11% |
| Unknown | 12 | 27% |
| Readers by discipline | Count | As % |
|---|---|---|
| Agricultural and Biological Sciences | 22 | 49% |
| Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology | 5 | 11% |
| Environmental Science | 4 | 9% |
| Nursing and Health Professions | 1 | 2% |
| Unknown | 13 | 29% |
Attention Score in Context
This research output has an Altmetric Attention Score of 64. This is our high-level measure of the quality and quantity of online attention that it has received. This Attention Score, as well as the ranking and number of research outputs shown below, was calculated when the research output was last mentioned on 07 September 2022.
All research outputs
#671,325
of 25,506,250 outputs
Outputs from Journal of Chemical Ecology
#30
of 2,167 outputs
Outputs of similar age
#7,943
of 275,678 outputs
Outputs of similar age from Journal of Chemical Ecology
#3
of 23 outputs
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