XVI International Botanical Congess

Non-granivorous ants collect elaiosome-bearing seeds and carry them to their nests. Knowing that some ant species relocate waste materials to the territory border, we predicted that ants can redisperse seeds after consumption of elaisomes. To test this hypothesis, we studied the seedling pattern and soil-seed material of ant territories and territory borders of two ant species Lasius fuliginosus (LF) and Formica polyctena (FP). Workers of both species collected seeds of myrmecochores, but only individuals of FP relocated seeds to territory borders. The higher concentration of seeds of myrmecochores in the nest of LF and the higher concentration of seedlings of large-seeded myrmecochores on the territory borders were occurred. Using computer simulation, we analysed the effect of ant behaviour on the spatial pattern of seeds dispersed by varying of the parameters of parent plant location and loss rate of seeds. The results indicate that the dispersal system with secondary seed relocation provides higher distances between seeds and between seeds and parent plant than system without it.