Piper cenocladum

Piper cenocladum
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Plantae
Clade:	Tracheophytes
Clade:	Angiosperms
Clade:	Magnoliids
Order:	Piperales
Family:	Piperaceae
Genus:	Piper
Species:	P. cenocladum
Binomial name
	Piper cenocladum; C.DC.

The tropical rainforest understory shrub Piper cenocladum is a member of the same genus as kava, betel, and black pepper. It is a myrmecophyte, a plant that lives in ecological mutualism with ants.^[1] This plant and three or four other closely related species are known collectively as ant plants or ant pipers. This species has broad, bright green leaves and grows in dim, swampy areas deep in the rainforest of Costa Rica and surrounding countries.

This ant piper has hollow petioles which provide a home for ants, especially of the species Pheidole bicornis.^[2] The plant also produces food bodies that the ants use as their main food source. The ants in turn defend the plant against predation by herbivorous caterpillars and fungi. Adding to the complexity of this food web is the beetle Tarsobaenus letourneauae, a specialized predator which lives in the plant's petioles and feeds upon the ants and their eggs. This food web is an example of ecological top-down control, in which the top predator affects lower levels of the system. The beetle reduces the number of ants, which allows more herbivory to occur, causing foliage loss on the plant.

References

^ Risch, Stephen J.; Rickson, Fred R. (May 1981). "Mutualism in which ants must be present before plants produce food bodies". Nature. 291 (5811): 149–150. Bibcode:1981Natur.291..149R. doi:10.1038/291149a0. ISSN 1476-4687. S2CID 4307388.
^ Dyer, Lee A.; Dodson, Craig D.; Beihoffer, Jon; Letourneau, Deborah K. (2001-03-01). "Trade-offs in Antiherbivore Defenses in Piper cenocladum: Ant Mutualists Versus Plant Secondary Metabolites". Journal of Chemical Ecology. 27 (3): 581–592. doi:10.1023/A:1010345123670. ISSN 1573-1561. PMID 11441447. S2CID 5880503.

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[1] Risch, Stephen J.; Rickson, Fred R. (May 1981). "Mutualism in which ants must be present before plants produce food bodies". Nature. 291 (5811): 149–150. Bibcode:1981Natur.291..149R. doi:10.1038/291149a0. ISSN 1476-4687. S2CID 4307388.

[2] Dyer, Lee A.; Dodson, Craig D.; Beihoffer, Jon; Letourneau, Deborah K. (2001-03-01). "Trade-offs in Antiherbivore Defenses in Piper cenocladum: Ant Mutualists Versus Plant Secondary Metabolites". Journal of Chemical Ecology. 27 (3): 581–592. doi:10.1023/A:1010345123670. ISSN 1573-1561. PMID 11441447. S2CID 5880503.

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