plants received a liquid fertilizer of urea and NO3- (31% N volume:volume) every two

weeks, totaling 320 kg*hal*y-1 (Silver et al. 2005).

 The domatia inhabited by the ant associates of C. alliodora are naturally hollow

cauline swellings that the plants produce at most branch nodes. In Costa Rica, C.

alliodora is most commonly occupied by the specialist ants Aztecapittieri and

Cephalotes setulifer, as well as several generalist live stem inhabiting ants including

species of Crematogaster, Pseudomyrmex, Cephalotes and Pheidole (Wheeler 1942,

Longino 1996, Tillberg 2004). Stable isotope and behavioral studies suggest that A.

pittieri and C. carinata, the two most abundant ant species occupying C. alliodora in the

Huertos Project plots at La Selva, patrol the plant regularly and consume insect prey

(Moser 2000, Tillberg 2004). In contrast, the isotopic profile of Cephalotes setulifer

indicates that this species subsists primarily on honeydew secreted from coccoid

hemipterans (Coccidae and Pseudococcidae) that cohabit the domatia they occupy

(Tillberg 2004). However, the relative effects of occupation by different ant species on

the amount of leaf damage sustained by their host plants are unknown.

 The leaves of C. alliodora are eaten by a number of generalist and specialist insect

herbivores (Wheeler 1942, Flowers and Janzen 1997, Moser 2000, Rojas et al. 2001,

Tillberg 2004). Many of the resident ant species also tend honeydew-producing

Hemiptera inside the domatia, which could negatively affect plant performance (Moser

2000, Tillberg 2004). The most abundant and most damaging insect herbivore present on

the trees at the Huertos Project plantings of C. alliodora was the tortoise beetle

Coptocycla leprosa (Chrysomelidae: Cassidini; Fig. 3-1). This beetle spends its entire

life cycle on C. alliodora, appears to be a specialist on the genus Cordia, and can