The Preference of Some Myrmecochorous Plants of Forest Stands by Red Wood Ant (Formica rufa L.)—Experiment on Seeds with Elaiosomes

Abstract

The paper is aimed in ants’ preference among seeds with elaiosomes. Seeds with elaiosomes of plants Asarum europaeum, Viola arvensis, Symphytum officinale, Chelidonium majus, and Ficaria verna were offered to red wood ants (Formica rufa) near two observed anthills. Monitored characteristics were the number of seeds collected by ants depending on the plant species, the presence of elaiosome, the orientation and the distance from anthill. The obtained data were processed by factorial ANOVA including PCA analysis. Seeds without elaiosomes were less preferred than the seeds with elaiosomes at statistical level. This experiment confirmed that elaiosomes attached to the seeds had significantly influenced transport of seeds by red wood ants. On the contrary, the influence of orientations (north–south) between seeds and the anthill were not proved. A distance of seeds from the anthill may play a certain role, but the results were not significant. Data indicated that ants had preferred seeds with elaiosomes of two plant species (A. europaeum and V. arvensis) from five species offered. The authors recommend to store seeds in a freezer before a similar experiment, because the elaisomes from different plant species will be fresh.