Farmer ants have bacterial farmhands

Ants that grow gardens turn out to be aided by a weed-killing species that no one noticed despite a century of study.

References:

Currie, C.R., et al. 1999. Fungus-growing ants use antibiotic-producing bacteria to control garden parasites. Nature 398(April 22):701.

Further Readings:

Hölldobler, B., and E.O. Wilson. 1990. The Ants. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press.

Milius, S. 1998. Old MacDonald was an ant. Science News 154(Nov. 21):334.

Sources:

Cameron R. Currie
University of Toronto
Department of Botany
Toronto M5S 3B2
Ontario, Canada

From Science News, Vol. 155, No. 17, April 24, 1999, p. 261. Copyright © 1999, Science Service.

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