Data from: Three's a crowd: trade-offs between attracting pollinators and ant bodyguards with nectar rewards in Turnera

Many plants attract insect pollinators with floral nectar (FN) and ant
“bodyguards” with extrafloral nectar (EFN). If nectar production is costly
or physiologically linked across glands, investment in one mutualism may
trade off with investment in the other. We confirmed that changes in FN
and EFN availability alter pollination and ant defense mutualisms in a
field population of Turnera ulmifolia. Plants with additional FN tended to
produce more seeds, while plants with reduced EFN production experienced
less florivory. We then mimicked the consumptive effects of mutualists by
removing FN or EFN daily for 50 days in a full factorial design using
three Turnera species (T. joelii, T. subulata, and T. ulmifolia) in a
glasshouse experiment. For T. ulmifolia and T. subulata, but not T.
joelii, removing either nectar reduced production of the other, showing
for the first time that EFN and FN production can trade off. In T.
subulata, increased investment in FN decreased seed set, suggesting that
nectar production can have direct fitness costs. Through the linked
expression of EFN and FN, floral visitors may negatively affect biotic
defense, and extrafloral nectary visitors may negatively affect
pollination.