Beschreibung:
Understanding the mechanisms underlying patterns of species distribution and diversity is a central goal in ecology and biogeography. Biotic interactions have been acknowledged as important factors affecting species diversity at local scales. However, the importance of these interactions at larger scales and their possible interplay with other biogeographic and environmental factors is not well-understood yet. Ant-plant mutualisms, detectable through plant structures such as domatia, extrafloral nectaries (EFNs), and elaiosomes, are well studied in terms of their systematic distribution and...