Symbiotic Relationship

Symbiotic life

wildlife

hidden jungle life

Vegetation and animals

Science

Ants, Mushrooms, Leaves, and Bacteria

Perhaps the most amazing example of symbiotic relationships is found in Central and South America. There, large colonies of leaf-cutter ants grow mushroom-type fungi (plural for fungus) for food. But instead of growing the mushrooms in soil, they grow them in leaf mulch. Leaf mulch consists of green leaves that have been chewed into small pieces.

These ants are called "leaf-cutters" because they cut leaves off trees, bit by bit, and carry the pieces to their underground nests.

The ants do not eat the leaves they collect. They are not able to digest the leaves' tough fibers and cell walls. Rather, the ants gather the leaves, chew them up, and spread them around on the fungus that grows in their nest. The fungus absorbs the nutrients from the leaves, and the ants, in turn, eat the fungus.

In some cases, the leaves used for mulch contain a natural insecticide that is poisonous to the ants. These leaves are covered with wax, making them useless as food for the mushrooms. So the farmer ants carefully scrape off the wax, avoiding the poison. With the wax gone, the leaves decay into mulch. In return, the mushrooms absorb the poison from the leaves and harmlessly convert the leaves into food for the ants and their larvae.

Leaf-cutter ants are skillful gardeners. They transplant fungi from one nest to another. They prune the fungi to keep them from developing into full-grown mushrooms. They weed their gardens, pulling up unwanted fungi and disposing of them in a dump outside the mound. The ants depend upon the fungus, and the fungus depends upon the ants. Neither can live without the other.

Amazingly, there is a third partner in this symbiotic relationship. The fungus has a parasite enemy, a type of mold. This mold can destroy a fungus garden within twenty-four hours. However, the ants carry bacteria on their bodies that secrete an antibiotic, and the antibiotic kills the infectious mold that threatens the fungus.

Thus, the bacteria depend on the ants for life. The ants depend on the mushrooms for life. And the mushrooms depend on the ants and the bacteria for life. Take away any member of the group, and the whole group dies.

The ants, fungi, bacteria, and plants evolved together.