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Ants — yes, ants — could protect apples, nuts, cocoa, and other beloved crops from disease and climate change.
Not expected to be surprised:
@futurebird
#Nature #ClimateChange #Ants #Agriculture
https://grist.org/food-and-agriculture/a-secret-weapon-in-agricultures-climate-fight-ants/
Many plants recruit ants. The assumed reasons for this are primarily that ants will drive out and eat many herbivorous insects (and even deter some larger vertebrate herbivores) After that possibly pollination?
But this notion that ants may prevent fungi, and other problems (due to the fastidious cleaning habits they have cultivated for millions of years to survive in dense colonies without disease) may help explain just how many plants seem to be "ant seekers."
@futurebird @joewynne
this reminds me that there are effectively two examples of herbivory among spiders (often thought to be "enirely obligate carnivores", but no). One is pollen; just about all spiders that build webs can digest pollen, and the other is spiders that live on ant-acacias; ant-acacias grow "treats" to attract ants that protect them from other herbivores. But along comes some canny spiders that have evolved to eat the treats grown for the ants.
@llewelly @futurebird @joewynne
And AFAIK the one with the highest percentage of plant material in its diet is bagheera kiplingi, so it's named after a black panther, and that amuses me greatly.
(There was a married couple of jumping spider enthusiast who were also fans of Kipling and named at least 3 species after characters from his works. )
@apophis @joewynne @futurebird @Anke
I don't know.
I would be surprised if any spider ate seeds. But then, I was surprised to learn spiders got significant nutrition from pollen, and I was surprised to learn there are spiders that eat "treats" grown for acacia ants. So ... *shrug*.
@Anke @llewelly @futurebird @joewynne I had to do a retake after reading about the "married couple of jumping spiders who were also fans of Kipling ..."
@Retreival9096 That really came out of left field.
@joewynne especially if you miss "enthusiasts"
@llewelly @futurebird @joewynne Okay, now somebody needs to write a story about vegetarian spiders who have resolved to eat only pollen.
@kechpaja @futurebird @joewynne
imagine the spider: "because I have vowed to eat only pollen, I've cut five flies and a beetle out of my web today, and I felt so bad the flies were so terribly injured and I don't even if know if they'll live, while the beetle was super rude and huffy for having merely been inconvenienced by my web ... "
