Early research on ant-plant interactions in Australia was largely
confined to the economically important problem of ants harvesting
surface-sown pasture seed (e. g. Campbell 1966). The report by Berg
(1975) of widespread myrmecochory in Australia, and a burst of overseas
research, stimulated research on a range of ant-plant interactions in
Australia. This book summarizes such research and presents reeent and
current work on seed harvesting, myrmecochory, ant-epiphytes,
extrafloral nectaries, ant-plant-homopteran systems, and the influence
of vegetation on ant faunas. I hope that it will encourage further work
in these and related areas, and that the review and bibliography of
ant-plant interactions in the rest ofthe world will serve as a useful
source for those entering the field. The richness of Australia's flora
and ant fauna render it a particularly interesting continent for the
study of interactions between them. As immediately apparent from the
list of contents, ant-seed interactions are particularly significant in
Australia. This is not surprising for a relatively dry continent bearing
a largely sc1erophyllous plant cover. Future research, however,
especially in the tropical north, is like1y to reveal further types of
interaction, perhaps corresponding to those characteristic of the
tropics elsewhere, or perhaps distinctively Australian. Some of the
chapters have been shortened and modified considerably from the original
manuscripts, but the ideas and results presented are, of course, those
of the individual authors.
