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
Humans began cultivating crops about 12,000 years ago. Ants have been at it rather longer. Leafcutter ants, the best-known insect farmers, belong to a lineage of insects that have been running fungus farms based on chopped-up ...
Plants & Animals
Jun 24, 2019
0
2
Scientists have spent decades finding ways to efficiently and affordably degrade plant materials so that they can be converted into useful bioproducts that benefit everyday life.
Ecology
Feb 1, 2024
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129
(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, ...
Leafcutter ants such as Atta sexdens or Acromyrmex lobicornis face two major challenges when they leave the safety of the nest to forage: choosing the best plants from which to collect leaves and avoiding being surprised ...
Plants & Animals
Dec 17, 2019
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11
Factories mass produce goods for society and many emit greenhouse gases in the process, but not all are run by humans. Some factories lie underground and are operated around the clock by tireless six-legged workers.
Environment
Dec 18, 2018
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35
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
0
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
0
118
In the face of environmental challenges, one kind of ant gets better at growing food and an African wasp species may become more cooperative.
Plants & Animals
Jul 3, 2023
0
11
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
