Navigation Links
Ants, not evil spirits, create devil's gardens in the Amazon rainforest, study finds

acks only non-host plants, such as C. odorata, and that it does not rely on the presence of domatia to discriminate between its host and other plant species," the Stanford team notes.

Chemical analysis revealed that the only compound produced by the ants' poison glands is formic acid, a toxin that is common in many ant species and, in fact, got its name from formica, which is Latin for ant. "Treatment of leaves with formic acid induced leaf necrosis on all the plants we tested," the authors write. "To our knowledge this is the first record of an ant using formic acid as a herbicide--although it is known to have bactericidal and fungicidal properties."

The ants employ a very effective system of lethal injection, notes Gordon, associate professor of biological sciences at Stanford. "The system harnesses two fundamental tools:formic acid, which many ant species use for other purposes, and the basic circulatory system of all vascular plants," she says.

A census of the rainforest from 2002 to 2004 revealed that devil's gardens grew by 0.7 percent per year. "Using this growth rate, we estimate that the largest devil's garden in our plot, with 351 plants, is 807 years old," the authors conclude. They estimate that a typical garden is tended by a single ant colony with as many as 3 million workers and 15,000 queens, adding that the presence of multiple queens "undoubtedly contributes to colony longevity."

Niche construction

"The cultivation of devil's gardens by ants is an excellent example of niche construction," Frederickson says. "By killing plants of other species, the ant promotes the growth and establishment of D. hirsuta, thereby gaining more nest sites."

The plants also benefit by increasing their biomass and eliminating the competition, says co-author Michael J. Greene, a former Sanford postdoctoral fellow, now assistant professor of biology at the University of Colorado-Denver. "This work is a truly remarkabl
'"/>

Source:Stanford University


Page: 1 2 3 4

Related biology news :

1. Chemists create Superbowl molecule; May lead to better health
2. Deficiency of growth hormone and IGF-1 reduces cancer and kidney disease, but creates other problems
3. RNA project to create language for scientists worldwide
4. Researcher gets NSF grant to create mutant maize lines
5. Breakthrough: Scientists create worlds tiniest organic particles
6. NIH creates nationwide network of molecular libraries screening centers
7. Researchers create infectious hepatitis C virus in a test tube
8. Researchers create functioning artificial proteins using natures rules
9. Scientists create digital bacteria to forge advances in biomedical research
10. Student scientists create living bacterial photographs
11. Molecular research suggest shift needed in how some drugs are created

Post Your Comments:
(Date:11/26/2009)...st worked out a way of using recordings of birdson...ns. This is the first time sound recordings from a...te estimates of bird species, populations. Because...ical Society,s Journal of Applied Ecology , will ...r advance in our ability to monitor whale and dolp...
(Date:11/26/2009)...istant Staphylococcus Aureus ) and other drug-res...perature plasma prototype devices have been develo...ricidal cocktails. , Two prototype devices have ...healthy skin (e.g. hands and feet) in hospitals an...hreat; and another to shoot bacteria-killing agent...
(Date:11/25/2009)...fighters, police officers and ambulance workers fa...Center complex. They battled to save people from t... tackled fires and evacuated as many people as the...,000 people. And making their jobs even harder was...rkers and their relatives jammed mobile networks w...
Breaking Biology News(10 mins):Ecologists sound out new solution for monitoring cryptic species 2Plasma produces KO cocktail for MRSA 2Plasma produces KO cocktail for MRSA 3Magic box for mission impossible 2Magic box for mission impossible 3Longer Hormone Treatment May Improve Prostate Cancer Outlook 48526 1Longer Hormone Treatment May Improve Prostate Cancer Outlook 48526 2Longer Hormone Treatment May Improve Prostate Cancer Outlook 48526 3Next Stage Solutions Announces Three New Financial Services For Emerging Business 12570 1Next Stage Solutions Announces Three New Financial Services For Emerging Business 12570 2Next Stage Solutions Announces Three New Financial Services For Emerging Business 12570 3San Francisco Symposium Provides Training for Communities Looking to Develop Arts Programs That Unite Generations 48519 1San Francisco Symposium Provides Training for Communities Looking to Develop Arts Programs That Unite Generations 48519 2San Francisco Symposium Provides Training for Communities Looking to Develop Arts Programs That Unite Generations 48519 3
... Like a 1950,s Detroit automaker, it appears that ...d, sturdy chassis. , A new study combining advanc...ents by molecular biologists at Rice University an...t stable parts of a protein are also the parts tha... 13 issue of the journal Structure. , Nature ref...
... Researchers have found that a class of RNA molecu...n fact protect sex cells from self-destructing. Th...issue of the journal Cell. , Central to this disc...n. When a gene is ready to produce a protein, the ... The first strand produces a molecule called messe...
... New research offers tantalizing clues as to why s...ecome more aggressive or kill themselves. The res...science, which is published by the American Psycho...e University of Texas at Austin found that juvenil...ride, which is sold in the United States as Prozac...
Other Biology News:Protein folding: Building a strong foundation 2Scientists discover role for dueling RNAs 2Adolescent but not adult hamsters are more aggressive on low dose of fluoxetine 2
(Date:11/25/2009)..., Ambassador to Speak at ... Toronto, Canada (Vocus) November 25, 2009 -- Amba..., ,Who: ,David Appia, French Ambassador for Intern...vest in France Agency ,To view a biography of Davi...: ,Ambassador Appia is available to meet with pres...
(Date:11/25/2009)..., , BEIJING, Nov. 25 /PRNewswi... developer and provider of vaccines, announced tod... to establish Sinovac (Dalian) Vaccine,Technology ...develop, produce,and commercialize human-use vacci...erience in developing and commercializing world-cl...
(Date:11/24/2009)..., This release is available in German . ,...cation cards: RFID tags (Radio Frequency Identific...ryday life. They make it possible to label objects... frequency. The appropriate scanner can read and p...ls can be affixed to goods under production condit...
(Date:11/24/2009)..., The New York investment...Ltd (ASX:NEU) has agreed an AU$6.7 mil convertible...investor. The private placement was arranged by KT...d advisor. , New York (PR... investment bank KTA Capital, LLC ("KTA Capit...
Breaking Biology Technology:French Ambassador for International Investment to Visit Toronto December 11 2Sinovac Establishes Joint Venture to Expand Human-Use Vaccine Development and Manufacturing Capabilities 2Sinovac Establishes Joint Venture to Expand Human-Use Vaccine Development and Manufacturing Capabilities 3Intelligence inside metal components 2KTA Capital Arranges an AU$6.7 Million Private Placement by Neuren Pharmaceuticals 2
... Key words: adenoviral vector • viral tra...l; gene delivery, , There is a req...ate lead candidate drugs arising from primary scre...ological assays. There is also a need in early-sta... as modulate the activity of, a plethora of molecu...
... M. Kenrick, S. Hancock, S. Stubbs, and N. Thoma...rdiff, UK , , Recent advances in s...oughput image analysis platforms such as the IN Ce...lysis of genes and proteins. Here, we describe the...reen fluorescent protein (GFP) ◊ cell cycle se...
...nd H.C. Birnboim , DNA Genotek Inc., Ott...ed with Oragene works well with TaqMan SNP Genotyp...thetase and apolipoprotein E genes were reliably ,...tion , Single-nucleotide polymorphisms ... to occur at 1 out of every 1,000 bases in t...
Other Biology Technology:Performance of Ad-A-Gene EGFP-Glucocorticoid Receptor (EGFP-GCCR): an adenoviral vector gene delivery system 2Performance of Ad-A-Gene EGFP-Glucocorticoid Receptor (EGFP-GCCR): an adenoviral vector gene delivery system 3Performance of Ad-A-Gene EGFP-Glucocorticoid Receptor (EGFP-GCCR): an adenoviral vector gene delivery system 4Performance of Ad-A-Gene EGFP-Glucocorticoid Receptor (EGFP-GCCR): an adenoviral vector gene delivery system 5Performance of Ad-A-Gene EGFP-Glucocorticoid Receptor (EGFP-GCCR): an adenoviral vector gene delivery system 6Performance of Ad-A-Gene EGFP-Glucocorticoid Receptor (EGFP-GCCR): an adenoviral vector gene delivery system 7Performance of Ad-A-Gene EGFP-Glucocorticoid Receptor (EGFP-GCCR): an adenoviral vector gene delivery system 8Performance of Ad-A-Gene EGFP-Glucocorticoid Receptor (EGFP-GCCR): an adenoviral vector gene delivery system 9Performance of Ad-A-Gene EGFP-Glucocorticoid Receptor (EGFP-GCCR): an adenoviral vector gene delivery system 10siRNA screening of the cell cycle with two dynamic GFP sensors (from Discovery Matters Issue 1, July 2005) 2siRNA screening of the cell cycle with two dynamic GFP sensors (from Discovery Matters Issue 1, July 2005) 3siRNA screening of the cell cycle with two dynamic GFP sensors (from Discovery Matters Issue 1, July 2005) 4siRNA screening of the cell cycle with two dynamic GFP sensors (from Discovery Matters Issue 1, July 2005) 5siRNA screening of the cell cycle with two dynamic GFP sensors (from Discovery Matters Issue 1, July 2005) 6siRNA screening of the cell cycle with two dynamic GFP sensors (from Discovery Matters Issue 1, July 2005) 7Oragene is compatible with TaqMan SNP genotyping 2Oragene is compatible with TaqMan SNP genotyping 3
NK Cell Chip-IHC from 3H Biomedical AB
UCB PDC Cell Chip-IHC from 3H Biomedical AB
Guanosine 5′-O-(2-Thiodiphosphate), Trilithium Salt from Calbiochem
Suramin, Sodium Salt from Calbiochem
Biology Products: