Protecting the home turf

An Azteca ant grabs an adult lady beetle on a coffee plant in Chiapas, Mexico. Lady beetles attempt to eat the green coffee scale insects guarded by the ants. But patrolling ants will attack and kill adult beetles and will remove beetle eggs laid on ant-tended coffee plants. the dynamics are discussed in Ecology and Evolution journal article, co-authored by SNRE Professor Ivette Perfecto.

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