Ant-scale mutualism increases scale infestation, decreases folivory, and disrupts biological control in restored tropical forests

Ant-hemipteran mutualisms can have positive and negative effects
on host plants depending on the level of hemipteran infestation and plant
protection conferred by ants against folivory. Differential effects of such
mutualisms on plant survival are well documented in undisturbed and
ant-invaded systems, but few have explored how anthropogenic disturbance
affects interactions between hemipterans and native ant species and what
the consequences may be for recovering ecosystems. Within a fragmented
landscape in Costa Rica, restored tropical forests harbor a mutualism
between the native ant Wasmannia auropunctata and the scale insect
Alecanochiton marquesi on the abundant, early-successional tree Conostegia
xalapensis. I added A. marquesi scales to C. xalapensis seedlings and
either allowed or excluded W. auropunctata to investigate if this mutualism
leads to increased scale infestation, decreased scale mortality, and
decreased folivory. I also examined whether these effects are mediated by
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