world only invented agriculture some 10,000 geezerhood ago , but ants have been doing it for millions of years . newfangled analysis indicates that , although ants operate farm in many environments , lawful domestication come about 30 million year ago , in desert or near - desert condition .
Attineant metal money form a symbiotic relationship with kingdom Fungi . The six - legged husbandman propagate the fungus , providing it with nutrients and protection from other animals that might consume it more recklessly . In homecoming , they get to eat the fungal increment .
Like bakers ' prentice accept precious starter dough to discover their business , attine ant impart a small amount of fungus when they find a fresh dependency . As with human agriculture , this has shape the genetics of the species they farm , since varieties of fungus that honorable suit attine need are more probable to be farm .
Smithsonian Museum entomologistDr Ted Schultzcompared the DNA of 119 ant species , 78 of which are farmers . reporting his finding inProceedings of the Royal Society B. He map the timing of when specie deviate , using fogy for substantiation , to turn up those close to the automobile trunk of the ant farmers ' family tree .
The 250 known metal money of fungus - farming emmet are divided into those that apply what is called " low-spirited " and " high " farming . Lower agriculture uses fungal species that can live without the ants ' protection . Sometimes the fungus will spread beyond the colony to grow in the wild , becoming a resourcefulness for the ants to draw on if their crop fail .
Higher Department of Agriculture involve fungi that , like many human crop , have been so alter by the farmers as to be unable to survive severally . Since the ants can not make it without their fungi , the two specie are locked in reciprocal dependence .
Lower agriculture has antecedently been estimated to have begun in South America55 - 65 million class ago . Schultz ’s work suggest gamey agribusiness go steady back around 30 million years and begin in a juiceless climate , contradicting previous Assumption of a wet line .
Global climatic changes at the time dry much of South American out . Suitable ranges for rainforest fungi would have contracted , and Schultz thinks some were saved by ants that provided them with reliable moisture , collecting water for humidness - controlled fungal garden .
" These higher agrarian - ant company have been practicing sustainable , industrial - scale agriculture for millions of years , " Schultz aver in astatement . " Studying their dynamics and how their kinship with their fungous mate have evolve may offer important lesson to inform our own challenges with our farming practices . Ants have established a configuration of Agriculture Department that provides all the nourishment needed for their society using a single crop that is resistive to disease , pests , and droughts at a scale and floor of efficiency that match human agribusiness . "
Given our owndisastrous experiencewith monocultures , we ’ve much to teach .
Ted Schultz ( left ) and Jeffrey Sosa - Calvo ( right ) excavate a lower fungus - land ant nest in the seasonally dry Brazilian Cerrado ( savanna ) . photograph credit : Cauê Lopes . The surreptitious garden bedroom of a primitive , down fungus - agriculture ant colony . Higher agriculture colony are larger . Cauê Lopes / Ted Schultz / Smithsonian
