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The fungus cultivated by the adults is used to feed the ant larvae, and the adult ants feed on leaf sap. The fungus needs the ants to stay alive, and the larvae need the fungus to stay alive, so mutualism is obligatory. The fungi used by the higher attine ants no longer produce spores. These ants fully domesticated their fungal partner 15 ...
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.
The scale of the farming done by fungus-farming ants can be compared to human's industrialized farming. [5] [11] [78] [79] A colony can "[defoliate] a mature eucalyptus tree overnight". [33] The cutting of leaves to grow fungus to feed millions of ants per colony has a large ecological impact in the subtropical areas in which they reside. [7]
There are at least 55 distinct species of leaf cutter ants, divided into three genera: Acromyrmex, Amoimyrmux, and Atta. ... Mutualism Between Ants and Fungi.
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.
Pseudonocardia is found to have antibiotic properties provided to the leaf-cutter ant to inhibit the growth of Escovopsis, which is a black yeast that parasitizes the leaf-cutter ant. [5] Pseudonocardia can be found in both aquatic (including marine) and terrestrial ecosystems. Pseudonocardia belongs to the phylum Actinobacteria.