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Energy flow (ecology) A food pyramid and a corresponding food web, demonstrating some of the simpler patterns in a food web. A graphic representation of energy transfer between trophic layers in an ecosystem. Energy flow is the flow of energy through living things within an ecosystem. [1] All living organisms can be organized into producers and ...
Myrmecophily (/ mɜːrməˈkɒfəli / 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. It may also include commensal or even parasitic interactions. A "myrmecophile" is an animal that associates with ants.
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. These instances were the attine ants and ...
Leafcutter ants are fungus-growing ants that share the behaviour of cutting leaves which they carry back to their nests to farm fungus. Next to humans, leafcutter ants form some of the largest and most complex animal societies on Earth. In a few years, the central mound of their underground nests can grow to more than 30 m (98 ft) across, with ...
Myrmecophyte. Pseudomyrmex ferruginea ants on a myrmecophyte tree, Vachellia cornigera, the bullhorn acacia of Central America. Myrmecophytes (/ mərˈmɛkəfaɪt /; 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]
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 ...
Weaver ants collaborating to pull nest leaves together. Weaver ant colonies are founded by one or more mated females . [17] A queen lays her first clutch of eggs on a leaf and protects and feeds the larvae until they develop into mature workers. The workers then construct leaf nests and help rear new brood laid by the queen.
Ecophysiology (from Greek οἶκος, oikos, "house (hold)"; φύσις, physis, "nature, origin"; and -λογία, -logia), environmental physiology or physiological ecology is a biological discipline that studies the response of an organism 's physiology to environmental conditions. It is closely related to comparative physiology and ...