Are ant-plant mutualisms stronger at lower latitudes? A case study using the castor plant in the Indian subcontinent
Bibliographic record
Abstract
Abstract The Biotic Interactions Hypothesis (BIH) predicts that species interactions will intensify from the poles to the tropics. We studied the ant-plant defensive interaction mediated by extrafloral nectaries (EFNs) in the castor bean plant, Ricinus communis, across a ∼21° latitudinal gradient in its naturalized range in India. Among our study sites, we found that the ant-EFN mutualism in castor bean gets stronger from sub-tropical to tropical latitudes. Investment in mutualism by plants and visitation by ants increased from higher to lower latitudes. Further, latitude significantly explained ant community composition. However, contrary to the predictions of the BIH, standing herbivory increased with latitude, perhaps because plants invest less in biotic defence at higher latitudes. To our knowledge, our study is the first to test for the patterns predicted by the BIH for an ant-plant interaction in the Paleotropics. Results from our study can also help inform sustainable pest control practices for R. communis since India is the world’s largest producer of castor oil.
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How this classification was reachedexpand
Full frame machine prediction
Teacher imitationNot calibrated prevalence, not ground truth. Human validation pending. The Gemma side is a direct model label for every work in the frame, read from the title-only record. The Codex side is a classifier learned from the 10,348 direct Codex labels and calibrated to design-weighted sample rates; fields without enough sample support carry no Codex call. Candidate is the union of the two sides; consensus is their intersection. These outputs are machine_predicted_unvalidated and are not human labels.
Distilled classifier scores by category (both heads)
| Category | Codex | Gemma |
|---|---|---|
| Metaresearch | 0.000 | 0.001 |
| Meta-epidemiology (narrow) | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Meta-epidemiology (broad) | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Bibliometrics | 0.001 | 0.001 |
| Science and technology studies | 0.002 | 0.001 |
| Scholarly communication | 0.001 | 0.000 |
| Open science | 0.001 | 0.001 |
| Research integrity | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Insufficient payload (model declined to judge) | 0.001 | 0.000 |
Machine scores (provisional)
The two teacher heads of the student model, read on this work. A score orders the frame for review; it never asserts a category, and the validation status ships verbatim with every row.
Baseline scores from an immature model (maturity gate not passed, 7 training rounds). Scores rank; they never assert a category.
score_only:v0-immature-baseline · verbatim from the scoring run: score_only means the number may rank works, and no category label ships from itClassification
machine, unvalidatedMachine predicted; a candidate call from one source (direct Gemma or distilled Codex), not a consensus.
How this classification was reached, model by model and score by score, is at the end of the page under "How this classification was reached".