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A new North Carolina State University study finds that climate change could be destabilizing the mutualistic relationships between insects and plants. The findings, appearing in the journal Ecology, could portend the future fracturing of symbiotic relationships that underpin healthy ecosystems.

In the study conducted in South America, NC State and Peruvian researchers examined the beneficial relationship between certain ant species and tropical shrubs (Cordia nodosa) that house the ants in exchange for defense against plant-eating pests.

The researchers compared the mutualistic relationships between these tropical shrubs and ants in five urban sites and five protected forest sites to understand how they differed. Particular attention was paid to the various species of ant living in hollow portions of the shrubs and how well they tolerated heat—a typical feature of urban environments.

The results showed that urban plants were not defended well by their ant dwellers, which were mostly opportunistic ants not normally associated with C. nodosa plants.

Ants that specialize in this beneficial relationship were still associated with C. nodosa plants in forests, however.

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