Carmela Buono
Preserve manager at Hudson Highlands Land Trust on beneficial interactions between species
Carmela Buono started her research journey at Rutgers University, where she completed a thesis on invasive species, followed by a PhD at Binghamton University looking at human impacts on species interactions. When she learned that myrmecochory (the dispersal of seeds by ants) was happening in her backyard, she was hooked: “Mutualisms are fascinating interactions between species, and while pollination tends to take the spotlight, myrmecochory is just as interesting!”
“My latest Ecology study looks at how historical forest disturbance, in the form of forest clearing for agriculture, impacts mutualistic interactions like seed dispersal,” says Carmela. “In our North American study sites, we found seed dispersal was stable in remnant sites (sites that had not been recently cleared for agriculture) but did not recover in some secondary sites (forest that been previously cleared). These secondary sites also had higher seed damage from invasive slugs.”
“Ant mutualists disperse the seeds of many herbaceous species in the forest understory. The ants bring the seeds into their nests to eat the fat-rich part of the seeds – adaptions called elaiosomes,” she adds. “By moving the seeds, the ants protect them from predators. After they’ve consumed the elaiosomes, the insects place the seeds outside their nests where the seeds have more space and resources like soil nutrients.”
“Myrmecochory is a mutualism because the ants get a food resource rich with fats and amino acids, while the plants are moved away from their parent plants to favourable locations,” says Carmela. “At Binghamton University, we’re trying to find out if different mutualistic Aphaenogaster [a genus of ants] species prefer the fatty appendages of different seeds.” Carmela and her colleagues found the ant populations were higher in secondary forests but some of the secondary forests had fewer Aphaenogaster species.
“We can protect remaining forests that serve as source populations for beneficial species like Aphaenogaster by promoting habitat that supports them, such as decaying logs that are vital nesting sites,” she adds. “We can also learn how to control invasive ant species that might disrupt dispersal.”