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The use of the term "agriculture", which may not be entirely appropriate for mutualistic relationships—particularly in cases where a colony is hosted by a plant, such as a tree, in exchange for protection and aid in its survival and growth—is well documented in the scientific literature for processes where ants create crops and directly cultivate plants or fungi.
Most organisms forage, hunt, or use photosynthesis to get food, but around 50 million years ago — long before humans were around — ants began cultivating and growing their own food.
Many ant-dispersed seeds have special external structures, elaiosomes, that are sought after by ants as food. [180] Ants can substantially alter rate of decomposition and nutrient cycling in their nest. [181] [182] By myrmecochory and modification of soil conditions they substantially alter vegetation and nutrient cycling in surrounding ecosystem.
Aphid honeydew can provide an abundant food source for ants (aphids in the genus Tuberolachnus can secrete more honeydew droplets per hour than their body weight) and for some ants, aphids may be their only source of food. In these circumstances, ants may supplement their honeydew intake by preying on the aphids once the aphid populations have ...
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We’re not quite as intriguing as we think we are.
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.
Acacia-ant symbiosis is the interaction between myrmecophilous Vachellia trees (ant acacias) and ants that nest on them (acacia ants).Obligate acacia ants dwell in the gall-like domatia within the swolen stipular spines of African or Central American ant acacia species, and they also take the food (nectar or Beltian bodies) offered by the tree.