Were humans the first to start growing crops?
Apparently not, studies have shown that humans began to grow crops about 12,000 years ago. Fijian ants began growing fruit crops about 3 million years ago; leafcutter ants are the designated insect growers who have been running fungal farms based on chopped plant matter for more than 50 million years.
The Fijian ant is a species of ant called the concave-headed stinky ant (Philidris nagasau), a fruit plant that grows and harvests ants on the branches of various trees.
Philidris nagasau inserts seeds from fruit plants into cracks in the bark of neighboring trees. Worker ants then patrol the planting site and apply fertilizer, which comes from their manure. As plants grow, their bases form large circular hollow structures called domatia, in which ants live.
The result of the work of fijian ants
The study further confirms its delicate relationship with plants, which are sown to breed plants, and whose hollow structure provides shelter for ants. When the fruit appears, the ants will eat the pulp and collect the seeds for future planting.
Fijian ants grow plants, while another type of ant prefers to "graze" and is known as the "herder ant". Unlike herders, herder ants graze aphids primarily.
Unlike aphid predators, this ant does not eat aphids. They like to eat on sugary feces left behind by aphids after feeding on plants. This substance is called "honeydew".
Herder ants set up their own camps in aphid habitats, emitting a special chemical from their feet to mark their tracks and territory. Some studies have shown that herder ants use these chemicals to hypnotize aphids and control them. Other studies have shown that aphids are attracted to ants because they form mutually beneficial or symbiotic relationships. Surprisingly, some herder ants bite off the wings of aphids to prevent them from flying away, making it easier to control.
In addition to growing plants and grazing aphids, ants can also cultivate fungi to provide nutrients for plants.
Research led by Dr Guillaume Chomicki of the University of Oxford's Department of Plant Sciences suggests that millions of years of ant farming have transformed plant physiology. Farmed ants deposit nitrogen-rich feces directly in plants, which has led to the evolution of these hyperabsorptive plant structures. This new understanding could provide important clues to our fight for food security.
"The rate at which plants absorb nitrogen is a key limiting factor in plant growth rate. Most plants, including our crops, absorb nitrogen from the soil and are therefore not naturally exposed to very high nitrogen concentrations. Here, for millions of years, ants have deposited nitrogen-rich feces directly in plants. Ongoing work aims to decipher the genetic basis of the superabsorbent plant structure found in this study, which could eventually be transferred to our crops, thereby increasing their nitrogen uptake rate. ”
Ant farming is a very unique kind of farming.