Ontology highlight
ABSTRACT:
SUBMITTER: Crumiere AJJ
PROVIDER: S-EPMC9292433 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Nov
REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature
Crumière Antonin J J AJJ James Aidan A Lannes Pol P Mallett Sophie S Michelsen Anders A Rinnan Riikka R Shik Jonathan Z JZ
Ecology letters 20210821 11
Foraging trails of leafcutter colonies are iconic scenes in the Neotropics, with ants collecting freshly cut plant fragments to provision a fungal food crop. We hypothesised that the fungus-cultivar's requirements for macronutrients and minerals govern the foraging niche breadth of Atta colombica leafcutter ants. Analyses of plant fragments carried by foragers showed how nutrients from fruits, flowers and leaves combine to maximise cultivar performance. While the most commonly foraged leaves del ...[more]