Condensed tannins, attine ants, and the performance of a symbiotic fungus

Abstract

Field experiments indicate that the foliar concentration of condensed tannin affects the selection of leaf material ofInga oerstediana Benth., a tropical legume tree, by leaf cutter ants. In one study an increase in tannin concentration was correlated with a decrease in the acceptability of leaves to leaf-cutter ants, except at low tannin concentrations. Protein concentration was not correlated with acceptability nor was the ratio of protein to tannin. Results from a second study suggest that when the concentration of tannin was low the ants appear to select leaves on the basis of nutrient availability. Laboratory assays with the ants indicated that quebracho tannin, a commercially available condensed tannin, inhibits foraging ants. Again, at lower concentrations, quebracho tannin appeared to have little affect on the ants. The fungus the ants cultivate is a wood-rotting Basidiomycete that produces enzymes, such as polyphenol oxidase (PPO), that are capable of inactivating tannins. The activity of these PPOs may explain why leaf-cutter ants are undeterred by low concentrations of condensed tannins. I hypothesized that PPO activity would be absent from fungal cultures without tannin and that only high concentrations of tannin would inhibit the fungus. Cultures with and without tannin showed similar PPO activity. Thus PPO activity is constitutive. In fact, as fungal biomass increased, so did PPO activity. As hypothesized, only high concentrations of quebracho tannin inhibited PPO activity and fungal growth. However, it is not clear whether the ants can discriminate between concentrations that do and do not inhibit the fungus.