Biology 2483A Lecture Notes - Lecture 14: Leafcutter Ant, Amoeba Proteus, Escovopsis

• School: Western University
• Department: Biology
• Course: Biology 2483A
• Professor: Hugh Henry

Document Summary

The fungus-growing ants started cultivating fungi for food at least 50 million years before the first human farmers. The ant farmers nourish, protect, and eat the fungal species they grow, forming a relationship that benefits both in balance, the fungus does better with the ants than without. The ants cannot survive without their fungi; many of the fungi cannot survive without the ants. The fungi are cultivated in underground gardens. A colony may contain hundreds of gardens, each the size of a football; they can feed 2 8 million ants. Leaf-cutter ants cut bits of leaves from plants and feed them to the fungi. The ants chew the leaves to a pulp, fertilize them with their own droppings, and weed the fungal gardens to help control bacterial and fungal invaders. The fungi produce specialized structures called gongylidia, on which the ants feed. Nonresident fungi, pathogens, and parasites can sometimes invade the colonies.