8 Ecology and Biomechanics of Slippery Wax Barriers and Wax Running in Macaranga–Ant Mutualisms Walter Federle and Tanja Bruening CONTENTS Introduction 164 Ecology and Evolution of Wax Barriers in the Ant-Plant Genus Macaranga . 165 Protection of Specific Ant Partners against Generalist Ants. 165 Effect of Wax Barriers on Host Specificity. 165 Evolution of Macaranga Wax Barriers . 167 Adaptive Syndromes of Ant Associations in Waxy and Nonwaxy Macaranga Ant-Plants 168 Ant Traits 168 Host Plant Traits. | 8 Ecology and Biomechanics of Slippery Wax Barriers and Wax Running in Macaranga Ant Mutualisms Walter Federle and Tanja Bruening CONTENTS Ecology and Evolution of Wax Barriers in the Ant-Plant Genus Protection of Specific Ant Partners against Generalist Effect of Wax Barriers on Host Evolution of Macaranga Wax Adaptive Syndromes of Ant Associations in Waxy and Nonwaxy Macaranga Ant Host Plant Evolution of Adaptive Biomechanics of Wax Running in Crematogaster Decacrema Tarsal Attachment Devices in Mechanisms of Mechanisms of Wax Attachment Force vs. Climbing Performance Is Wax Running Capacity Based on Greater Attachment or Superior Locomotion .173 Comparative Morphometry of Wax Runners and Non-Wax 163 Copyright 2006 Taylor Francis Group LLC 164 Ecology and Biomechanics Mechanical Benefit of Long Legs for Climbing Ants 176 Kinematics of Climbing in Crematogaster Decacrema Wax Runners and Non-Wax INTRODUCTION Most terrestrial ecosystems have been shaped by interactions between plants and insects. Insects are involved in a variety of interactions with plants not only as pollinators and herbivores but also as predators of herbivores seed dispersers and as prey of insectivorous plants. The mechanisms giving rise to and maintaining these interactions are often chemical in nature. Plant secondary compounds may have direct effects on herbivores . feeding inhibitors or toxic compounds or act as signals semiochemicals perceived by insects. The chemical ecology of insect-plant interactions has been studied extensively over the past decades see . 1-3 . However insect-plant interactions are not only determined by .
