XVI International Botanical Congess

We surveyed the interactions between ants and nonmyrmecochorous diaspores in a rainforest in SE Brazil. During two years of monthly samplings of naturally fallen diaspores, 886 ant-diaspores interactions involving 36 ant species and 56 different species of diaspores were recorded. The number of interactions was positively correlated with rainfall but not with temperature. The number of ant species recorded in the interactions, however, was positively associated with these parameters. This seasonal pattern corroborates the general tendency found in other neotropical areas. Interactions between ants and fallen nonmyrmecochorous diaspores may be especially common in lowland rainforests where the abundance of ants is coupled with the year-round availability of fleshy diaspores.