Search results
Results from the WOW.Com Content Network
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.
Leafcutter ants farm various fungi from the Lepiotaceae family in a symbiotic relationship.The ants care for and protect the fungi, providing them with plenty of nutritious plant matter and ...
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.
For some ant species or groups, this is an activity essential to their survival, particularly in a symbiotic relationship with the cultivated species, especially plants or fungi. Some plants require the presence of ants for their survival and offer benefits to the ants in return, creating a mutualistic relationship between their species.
Myrmecophilous aphids being tended by ants. Myrmecophily (/ m ɜːr m ə ˈ k ɒ f ə l i / mur-mə-KOF-ə-lee, lit. ' love of ants ') consists of positive, mutualistic, interspecies associations between ants and a variety of other organisms, such as plants, other arthropods, and fungi.
This mutualistic relationship is further augmented by another symbiotic partner, a bacterium that grows on the ants and secretes chemicals; essentially, the ants use portable antimicrobials. Leaf cutter ants are sensitive enough to adapt to the fungi's reaction to different plant material, apparently detecting chemical signals from the fungus.
Pseudomyrmex ferruginea ants on a myrmecophyte tree, Vachellia cornigera, the bullhorn acacia of Central America. Myrmecophytes (/ m ər ˈ m ɛ k ə f aɪ t /; literally "ant-plant") are plants that live in a mutualistic association with a colony of ants. There are over 100 different genera of myrmecophytes. [1]
Tripartite symbiosis is a type of symbiosis involving three species. This can include any combination of plants , animals , fungi , bacteria , or archaea , often in interkingdom symbiosis . Ants