Abstract of Thesis Presented to the Graduate School
 of the University of Florida in Partial Fulfillment of the
 Requirements for the Degree of Master of Science


 ANT OCCUPANCY AND ANTI-HERBIVORE DEFENSE OF Cordia alliodora, A
 NEOTROPICAL MYRMECOPHYTE

 By

 Matthew David Trager

 December 2005

Chair: Emilio M. Bruna
Major Department: Interdisciplinary Ecology

 I studied patterns of ant occupancy, herbivory and anti-herbivore defense in Cordia

alliodora (Boraginaceae) (Ruiz and Pavon) Oken, a common neotropical myrmecophyte.

Specifically, I investigated patterns in ant community composition in 1-, 2-, and 5-yr-old

plants and tested whether changes in ant occupancy with plant age affect the amount of

herbivory sustained by the host plant.

 Although 11 ant species were present in the plants studied, four species-Azteca

pittieri Forel, Cephalotes setulifer Emery, Crematogaster carinata Mayr and

Pseudomyrmexfortis Forel-accounted for the vast majority of occupied domatia. The

relative abundance of these species varied according to plot-level environmental

variation, domatia position within plants and plant age. The two most abundant ant

species, A. pittieri and Cr. carinata, were nearly mutually exclusive in the 5-yr-old plants

and the interaction between these species affected the distribution and abundance of the

third most abundant species, Ce. setulifer. Coexistence of multiple ant species on the