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Summary: Community ecology
Ants defend aphids against
lethal disease
Charlotte Nielsen1,, Anurag A. Agrawal1,2
and Ann E. Hajek1,*
1
Department of Entomology, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York,
NY 14853-2601, USA
2
Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Cornell University,
Ithaca, New York, NY 14853-2701, USA
*Author for correspondence (aeh4@cornell.edu).
Present address: Department of Agriculture and Ecology, University
of Copenhagen, Thorvaldsensvej 40, DK-1871, Frb C, Denmark.
Social insects defend their own colonies and some
species also protect their mutualist partners. In
mutualisms with aphids, ants typically feed on
honeydew produced by aphids and, in turn
guard and shelter aphid colonies from insect
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