Leaf-cutter ants, which cultivate fungus for food, have many
remarkable qualities.
Here's a new one to add to the list: the ant farmers, like their
human counterparts, depend on nitrogen-fixing bacteria to make their
gardens grow. The finding, reported Nov. 20 in the journal Science,
documents a previously unknown symbiosis between ants and bacteria
and provides insight into how leaf-cutter ants have come to dominate
the American tropics and subtropics.
What's more, the work, conducted by a team led by University of
Wisconsin-Madison bacteriologist Cameron Currie, identifies what is
likely the primary source of terrestrial nitrogen in the tropics, a
setting where nutrients are otherwise scarce.
<http://www.news.wisc.edu/17398>Link
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<http://www.monochrom.at/english/2009/11/like-humans-ants-use-bacteria-to-make.htm>monochrom
at 11/25/2009 01:14:00 PM
