Objectif Nutritional mutualisms between tropical arboreal ants and their gut bacteria are an essential part of the web of interactions that underpin the keystone role of ants as predators of arthropods in tropical forest canopies. These ecologically-important symbioses are unstudied, apart from a few highly specialised examples. Furthermore, ant-bacterial-plant symbioses are convenient model systems to investigate insect-bacterial symbioses because the diets of tropical plant-associated ants are often highly variable among closely related species and even among colonies in a single species. They offer greater scope for studying questions about functional diversity than do other insect-bacterial symbioses, such as those between Buchnera and aphids -a strictly phloem-feeding insect group that have provided the foundation from which exploration of diversity can now begin. Study of ant-bacterial-plant symbioses may elucidate new roles for bacteria and new mechanisms for their effects. The immediate goal is to establish the core patterns of bacterial diversity in ant guts at different levels, from intra-population variation in the African plant-ant Aphomomyrmex (mediated by yet another partner in the interaction, hemipterans), to inter-population and interspecific variation in Aphomomyrmex and its sister taxon Petalomyrmex, and finally to a comparison of bacterial symbionts of the pantropical lineage to which these ants belong. Patterns in diversity at multiple levels will provide clues about the functioning and the evolutionary history of ant-bacterial symbioses. The long-term goal is to characterise functional diversity of ant-gut bacteria. Although closely related bacterial species can have different ecological niches, phylogenetic affiliation of the bacteria identified as symbionts can provide enough clues about their ecology and metabolic capacities to form a solid base from which detailed studies of their functional significance can proceed. Champ scientifique natural sciencesbiological sciencesmicrobiologybacteriologymedical and health scienceshealth sciencesnutritionnatural sciencesbiological sciencesecologyecosystemsnatural sciencesbiological sciencesbiological behavioural sciencesethologybiological interactionsnatural sciencesbiological scienceszoologyinvertebrate zoology Mots‑clés biodiversity and ecosystem functioning multitrophic interactions mutualism nutrient cycling nutritional ecology parasitism tropical rain forest Programme(s) FP6-MOBILITY - Human resources and Mobility in the specific programme for research, technological development and demonstration "Structuring the European Research Area" under the Sixth Framework Programme 2002-2006 Thème(s) MOBILITY-2.1 - Marie Curie Intra-European Fellowships (EIF) Appel à propositions FP6-2005-MOBILITY-5 Voir d’autres projets de cet appel Régime de financement EIF - Marie Curie actions-Intra-European Fellowships Coordinateur CENTRE NATIONAL DE LA RECHERCE SCIENTIFIQUE-DELEGATION LANGUEDOC-ROUSSILLON Contribution de l’UE Aucune donnée Adresse 1919 Route de Mende MONTPELLIER France Voir sur la carte Liens Site web Opens in new window Coût total Aucune donnée
