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.

Inhaltsangabe1. Seed utilization by harvester ants.- 2. Rate of decline of some soil seed populations during drought in western New South Wales.- 3. Relationship between the seed-harvesting ants and the plant community in a semi-arid environment.- 4. Restricting losses of aerially sown seed due to seed-harvesting ants.- 5. Seed removal by ants in the mallee of northwestern Victoria.- 6. Ant-plant interactions in the Darling Botanical District of Western Australia.- 7. Ant-epiphytes of Australia.- 8. Plants' use of ants for dispersal at West Head, New South Wales.- 9. Convergence of myrmecochory in mediterranean Australia and South Africa.- 10. Evidence for interspecific competition influencing ant species diversity in a regenerating heathland.- 11. Ant-plant interactions: a world review.- A world bibliography of ant-plant interactions.