Abstract
Ants of Formica neorufibarbus gelida are nectar thieves of Polemonium viscosum. Their activities lead to significant reductions in seedset. Ants interfere With seed production by severing the base of the style or chewing through the ovary during nectar foraging, rather than by lowering reward levels available to pollinators. During the summers of 1979 and 1981 flowers of over 25% of the plants of P. viscosum censused in the krummholz of the Colorado alpine were damaged by nectar thieving ants. The frequency of ant visitation decreased at higher altitudes. Individual plants of P. viscosum have a predominant floral scent that is either sweet or skunky. I found that ants visited considerably more individuals with sweet flowers than expected from local morph abundance, and undervisited plants with skunky flowers. Laboratory preference tests supported field observations; ants showed a significant preference for sweet flowers, and this was in response to scent rather than other floral cues. In this system floral 'predators' and bumblebee pollinators show similar floral choice patterns, and their behavior may help to maintain scent variation in populations of P. viscosum.
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