Scientists probing one of the mysteries of the insect world have identified a powerful chemical weapon used in the arms race between fungus-farming leafcutter ants and the parasites that plague them.
Plants & Animals
Jun 7, 2018
0
154
A complex genetic analysis has biologists re-evaluating some long-held beliefs about the way societies evolved following the invention of agriculture—by six-legged farmers.
Plants & Animals
May 9, 2018
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50
A group of South American ants has farmed fungi since shortly after the dinosaurs died out, according to an international research team including Smithsonian scientists. The genes of the ant farmers and their fungal crops ...
Plants & Animals
Jul 20, 2016
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815
Farming evolved independently in humans at least nine times. The practice was among the innovations that enabled complex civilizations to develop. But we weren't the first species to raise our own food: various leafcutter ...
Plants & Animals
Apr 12, 2016
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34
Deploying multiple videos in a University of Oregon lab, scientists have documented never-before-seen views of leafcutter ants at work processing leaves and growing their food supply in their nests.
Plants & Animals
Jan 28, 2016
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118
Half a million ants were enlisted at a German zoo Tuesday by ecologists from the conservation group WWF to call for the protection of the Amazon rainforest, ahead of a trip by Germany's Chancellor Angela Merkel to Brazil.
Ecology
Aug 18, 2015
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22
(Phys.org)—A team of researchers working in Panama has learned more about how leafcutter ants use chemical secretions to ward of fungal infections. In their paper published in Proceedings of the Royal Society B, the team, ...
Termite soldiers are able to chemically detect intruders in their colonies. While most trespassers are swiftly dealt with, some spiders, centipedes, millipedes, and insects are allowed to find shelter within termite nests. ...
Plants & Animals
Jan 13, 2015
0
6
Leafcutter ants, signature denizens of New World tropical forests, are unique in their ability to harvest fresh leaves to cultivate a nutrient-rich fungus as food.
Biotechnology
Feb 10, 2011
8
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