Food Security For Leaf-cutting Ants: Workers And Their Fungus Garden Reject Invaders
Saturday, April 11, 2009 - 20:21
in Biology & Nature
New diseases affect human survival and food security, especially as population density climbs. Leaf-cutting ants, one of a few groups of social insects to cultivate crops and live in dense colonies, harvest plant material to fertilize underground fungal gardens. New results show that both the ants and their fungal crop actively combat fungi coming into the nest inside leaves.