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Discovered only in 2016, ant farming and agriculture with plants is a rapidly evolving field of discoveries. As of 2022, it is estimated that ants assist in the dispersal of seeds for over 11,000 plant species, are in mutualistic relationships with at least 700 plant species, and engage in purely agricultural processes with hundreds of others.
The most serious pests are mealybugs that feed on citrus. Other species damage sugarcane, grapes, pineapple (Jahn et al. 2003), coffee trees, cassava, ferns, cacti, gardenias, papaya, mulberry, sunflower and orchids. Mealybugs only tend to be serious pests in the presence of ants because the ants protect them from predators and parasites. [2]
Minims protect the fungus, diligently keeping out pests and watching for disease or mold. If an ant discovers mold in the fungus farm, they use a unique bacterium as a natural pesticide. However ...
Ant–fungus mutualism is a symbiosis seen between certain ant and fungal species, in which ants actively cultivate fungus much like humans farm crops as a food source. There is only evidence of two instances in which this form of agriculture evolved in ants resulting in a dependence on fungi for food.
Fungus-growing ants (tribe Attini) comprise all the known fungus-growing ant species participating in ant–fungus mutualism. They are known for cutting grasses and leaves, carrying them to their colonies' nests, and using them to grow fungus on which they later feed. Their farming habits typically have large effects on their surrounding ecosystem.
[8]: 299 The ants and the mealybug have a pre-existing mutualistic relationship and so provide them with a refuge. [8]: 299 In their next work Mgocheki & Addison 2010 find that managing the ants did indeed lead to increased parasitism on the mealybug and decreased crop injury. [8]: 299
Some farming ant species gather and store the aphid eggs in their nests over the winter. In the spring, the ants carry the newly hatched aphids back to the plants. Some species of dairying ants (such as the European yellow meadow ant, Lasius flavus) [69] manage large herds of aphids that feed on roots of plants in the ant colony. Queens leaving ...
While aphids, mealybugs and other more sedentary hemipterans are most often used as trophobionts, occasional instances of more active hemipterans such as leafhoppers have been recorded. [ 1 ] [ 2 ] In such instances in southern Africa, larger ant genera such as Camponotus are more successful at herding and containment of the leafhoppers.
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