{"id":46232,"date":"2016-11-26T15:53:19","date_gmt":"2016-11-26T20:53:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/planetsave.com\/?p=46232"},"modified":"2016-11-26T15:53:19","modified_gmt":"2016-11-26T20:53:19","slug":"ant-species-philidris-nagasau-fiji-symbiotically-farming-epiphytes-around-3-million-years-research-finds","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/planetsave.com\/articles\/ant-species-philidris-nagasau-fiji-symbiotically-farming-epiphytes-around-3-million-years-research-finds\/","title":{"rendered":"Ant Species (Philidris Nagasau) On Fiji Has Been Symbiotically Farming With Epiphytes For Around 3 Million Years, Research Finds"},"content":{"rendered":"

While farming has long been a known phenomenon amongst various ant species, there’s much that remains unknown. With that in mind, new research has revealed some interesting things about the symbiotic partnership and farming that goes on between the ant species Philidris nagasau and at least 6 types of plant within the genus Squamellaria<\/em> on the Fiji archipelago, that are worth discussing here.<\/p>\n

Amongst which, the symbiotic partnership between Philidris Nagasau<\/em> and the various epiphyte plants in question has become so specialized that the basic life processes of the two are highly dependent — and, arguably, that the various species wouldn’t be able to survive without their symbiotic partner<\/a>(s).<\/p>\n

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Also interesting, is that the farming partnership seems to have begun around 3 million years ago — going by the findings of an analysis based around the investigation of “the degrees of difference between homologous DNA sequences in both plants and ants as independent molecular clocks. Based on calibrated rates of mutation, one can work out approximately when the species involved in the interactions originated, and thus the earliest point at which the symbioses could have formed.”<\/p>\n

These symbioses would have presumably begun after Squamellaria<\/em> began adapting an epiphytic form — with the ants presumably making the approach more viable through their “aid” (mutualistic fertilization, and the planting of the Squamellaria<\/em> in viable locations, amongst other things).<\/p>\n

As some background — the plant genus Squamellaria<\/em> is composed of epiphytic species that grow on tree trunks<\/a>. Their seeds are collected by the ant farmers, who then plant them in viable fissures in the bark of host trees. They then germinate in these trees, and are actively managed and utilized.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe plants colonize three or four tree species, which are also attractive for the ants, either because they produce readily accessible nectar, or because their bark is particularly soft, so that the ants can easily widen the cracks that form,\u201d stated LMU botany professor Susanne Renner.<\/p>\n