Ants protect plants better when jacked up on nectar
...s, "Contrasting the diet and aggressiveness of the ant bodyguards tending an extrafloral nectary-bearing ...when foraging near other plants. However, the ant species differed in the strength of their preference for meat. To see how that might translate i...Fire ant killing protozoa found in 120 Texas counties
...leted a survey that detected the protozoa in fire ant colonies in approximately 120 of the 157 Texas cou...roduct that would introduce the protozoa into fire ant mounds in the form of a bait. Alternately, infected fire ants might be introduced into areas where t...Tiny beetle wreaks havoc on Texas ornamental tree nurseries
... pest does so for the same reason that a number of ant species farm fungi, to produce food. The fungus plugs up the tree's vascular system, the collection of tiny vessels that transports water and nutrients to the plant cells. "It's really the ambrosia fungus that kills the tree, not the beetle," Ludw...When plants need ants' help, bigger is better
...ze of seed-moving ants declines. The change in the ant community can influence the plant community. Ness and his colleagues examined 57 ant species from 24 sites across six continents and found that just a small increase in body length mean...Scientists question reports of massive ant supercolonies in California and Europe
...any introductions in the past." An authority on ant behavior, Gordon has spent more than 20 years stud...hich has displaced many of California's indigenous ant species since it was first introduced in the state around 1900. Common scents For years, Go...New data on ant adaptability within their environment
...ns in nature vary. To date, the only evidence that ant colonies can exhibit any flexibility in the relati...ween P. morrisi and a competitor species, the fire ant Solenopsis invicta demonstrated that members of the soldier caste play an important role in colony ...Rare ant may help solve some mysteries of social evolution
...s. They had uncovered Leptothorax minutissimus, an ant species that has been found in only four other are...acorn at a Columbus metro park the first time the ant has been found in Ohio. "What makes this find special is the lifestyle of these ants," said Joan Her...Attack of the crazy ants - invasional 'meltdown' on an oceanic island
...nd Lake show that impacts of invasion by the crazy ant Anoplolepis gracilipes ramify through the food web...tem in just 1-2 years. On the forest floor, crazy ant supercolonies extirpate the dominant native omnivore, which indirectly increases seedling recruitmen...Discovery may help in war against fire ants
...ge, it elicits a strange behavior in its host: The ant will leave the colony and climb to the top of any ...ones are a drain on the colony. If drones, or fire ant males, would stay in the colony and suck up nutrients for another two years, it would be wonderful. ...Parasites prevent ants from protecting coffee plants
...has discovered. "When phorid flies appear near an ant nest, the ants all run back inside the nest, sever...mmon ants in the same farms. But when she compared ant attacks on caterpillars on coffee plants where phorids were found with those on phorid-free plants, ...Army ants have defied evolution for 100 million years
...alifornia-Davis. Brady's paper, "Evolution of army ant syndrome: the unique origin and long-term evolutio...picnics. They have what scientists call the "army ant syndrome," comprising three characteristics: the ants are nomadic, they forage for prey without adva...'Work stinks': It's more than just a slogan among ants, researchers find
Peer into the deep recesses of an ant colony and you'll discover an extremely well organ...ordon observed. Making sense of scents Like most ant species, red harvesters communicate by touch and smell - but instead of sniffing the air, ants use t...Red Imported Fire Ant Conference to discuss control and eradication of fire ants
...ogram fails in California," warned Greenberg, "the ant will certainly spread northward along the coast an...so into irrigated valleys. Since it is a stinging ant and eats almost anything, this ant becomes a major pest around homes, schools, nature preserves, and...Special section: Invasive species
...on six continents. In their native range Argentine ant colonies attack outsiders, which are distinguished via chemical cues based on genetic differences. But the introduced colonies generally don't attack each other because they can't distinguish each other -- they are quite similar genetically because t...Scientists harness powerful x-rays in new technique to study animal functions
...hase-enhanced imaging technique, Lee placed a dead ant in the path of the x-ray beam and was amazed to see incredibly detailed images of the ant's internal organs. He searched the Internet for a biologist who might be interested, and he and Field Museum scientists have been working together ever since. ...Ant agriculture: 50 million years of success
...n fungi, and weeds have all been co-evolving since ant agriculture first got started -- that's around 50 ...ct fungus gardens. There is a fourth factor in the ant colonies, a kind of bacteria that the ants cultivate on the outsides of their bodies. These bacteri...Evolving slower gets you the bigger piece of the pie
...nteraction occurs, who will benefit most? Will the ant benefit most by providing very little protection for a lot of food, or will the caterpillar benefit most by providing very little food for a lot of protection? Michael Lachmann from the Max Planck Institute for Mathematics in the Sciences in Leipzig...In mutually beneficial relationship, slowest-evolving species gains upper hand
...protein-rich excretions as a food source for their ant protectors. The dilemma is how much food should the caterpillars provide and how much should the ants demand. The answer changes over time, depending on how quickly the species evolve. At times the caterpillars might offer less food and at least some...Tips from the Journals of the American Society for Microbiology
...opic worms produce a compound that is an effective ant repellent, say researchers from the University of California, Davis, and the University of Wisconsin, Madison. They report their findings in the December 2002 issue of the journal Applied and Environmental Microbiology. Microscopic worms, known as ......mithsonian Magazines. In 2001 his photo of an army ant colony on Barro Colorado won in one of the categories of the prestigious BBC Wildlife Photographer of the Year Competition. The Smithsonian Institution Travelling Exhibition Service will produce an exhibit featuring 40 photographs from "A Magic Web,"...