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Program > Tara Latteman Tara Latteman 2010-2011 Honors Student
Name: Tara Latteman  Honors in: Biology  Hometown: Washington,
NJ  Major(s): Biology/ Pre-med  Title of project: Herbivore
defense in myrmecophytic and non-myrmecophytic species of
Cecropia from the Peruvian Amazon  Abstract or brief
description: Cecropia is a genus of fast growing, successional
trees of the Neotropics. Most species are myrmecophytes and have
a mutualistic relationship with ants in which the tree receives
defense against herbivores and the ants are provided with food
and shelter. A few species of Cecropia do not support ants and
do not rely on ants for herbivore defense. I examined the basis
for herbivore defense in two of these non-myrmecophyte Cecropia,
C. sciadophylla and C. tacuna, and compared them with C.
membranacea, a myrmecophyte. My results show that C.
sciadophylla is defended by high concentrations of tannins and
that it has tough leaves. C. tacuna grows in the cloud