螞蟻

代紅二

Fijian species planted seeds to grow food three million years before humans. Ants collect and plant seeds， and even protect them from being eaten. The insects will also fertilise1 the seedlings2 to help them grow. Ants eat the fruit of the adult plant and harvest seeds for further farming. Unique symbiotic3 relationship benefits both the ants and the plant.

Humans began farming around 12，000 years ago， and only in the past 50 years have scientists realised were not the only species to study agriculture.

New research has revealed that a humble Fijian ant species beat us to becoming the first farmers by almost three million years.

The ants have been observed carefully sowing seeds， fertilising them， and waiting for them to grow into plants which bear tasty fruit.

What caused the formation of this relationship remains a mystery to scientists. But it puts the ants millions of years ahead of the first human societies to use farming techniques.

The newly discovered relationship， stumbled upon4 by scientists at the University of Munich， is unique to the animal kingdom.

“The story is unique，” Dr Brian Fisher， entomologist5-in-residence at the California Academy of Sciences， told NPR.

“We already have ants that disperse6 seeds， and have ants that feed plants， but weve never had a case where they farm a plant they cant live without.”

The ants rely on the plant for shelter and food， while the plants need the ants to sow and spread their seeds.

Squamellaria7 plants are epiphytes8， meaning they grow on other plants.

Worker ants of the Fijian species Philidris nagasau9 ferry seeds from the fully-grown plants to nearby trees.

They pick tree species with soft bark， or that produce nectar10， to plant the seeds—giving the plants the best possible chance of growing.

Once a plot has been selected， the ants then monitor the planted seeds， protecting them from hungry herbivores11.

As the plants grow under the ants supervision， they begin to develop empty chambers called domatia12 at the base of their stems.

The ants fertilise the plants to inspire further growth.

Once the plant is big enough， its hollow domatia provide shelter for the ants.

It had previously been spotted that the ants like to reside in these small chambers， but the Munich researchers have uncovered the true nature of the relationship—that the ants sow and nurture the plants to grow themselves a new home.

The ants will eat the fruit of the Squamellaria plant and harvest their seeds for further farming projects.

While many other examples of mutually bene-ficial or “symbiotic” relationships between ants and plants exist， the discovery marks the only case in which both parties are totally dependent on each other for survival.

斐濟某些物種通過播種來種植食物比人類早了三百萬年。螞蟻收集和種植種子，甚至保護種子不被吃掉。這種昆蟲還會給幼苗施肥，以幫助幼苗生長。螞蟻吃成熟植物的果實，收獲種子用于進一步耕作。這種獨特的共生關(guān)系對螞蟻和植物都有好處。

人類在約一萬兩千年前開始耕種，然而只有在過去50年里，科學(xué)家才意識到，我們不是唯一一個研究農(nóng)業(yè)的物種。

新的研究表明，我們?nèi)祟惐灰环N微不足道的斐濟螞蟻打敗，它們最早成為農(nóng)民比人類早了將近300萬年。

人們觀察到螞蟻播種，施肥，等待植物結(jié)出美味的水果。

到底是什么觸發(fā)形成了這種關(guān)系對科學(xué)家而言仍然是個未解之謎，但螞蟻比最早的人類社會使用農(nóng)業(yè)技術(shù)早了數(shù)百萬年。

慕尼黑大學(xué)的科學(xué)家偶然發(fā)現(xiàn)的這一關(guān)系對動物王國來說是獨一無二的。

“這真是太獨特了，”加州科學(xué)院的常駐昆蟲學(xué)家布萊恩·費舍爾博士這樣告訴美國國家公共電臺。

“目前，我們已經(jīng)發(fā)現(xiàn)螞蟻可以撒種，培育植物，但我們從來沒有發(fā)現(xiàn)螞蟻能種植自己賴以生存的植物?！?/p>

螞蟻依靠植物提供賴以生存的家園和食物，而植物需要螞蟻播種和傳播種子。

穗鱗木屬植物是附生植物，意味著它們在其他植物上生長。

斐濟一種凹頭臭蟻屬的工蟻把成熟的植物果實搬到附近的樹中。

他們選擇有軟樹皮或能產(chǎn)生花蜜的樹種播種——盡可能給予植物最好的生長環(huán)境。

一旦選定目標(biāo)，螞蟻將監(jiān)測種下的種子，保護他們不被饑餓的食草動物吃掉。

隨著植物在螞蟻的監(jiān)督下生長，植物莖的基部長出蟲菌穴。

螞蟻給植物施肥，使植物加快生長。

植物長到足夠大時，蟲菌穴可為螞蟻提供住所。

人們以前發(fā)現(xiàn)，螞蟻喜歡住在這些小蟻穴中，但慕尼黑研究人員研究出這一關(guān)系的本質(zhì)在于：螞蟻播種和培育植物是為了給自己創(chuàng)建新家園。螞蟻會吃穗鱗木屬植物的果實，收獲種子用于后期播種。

雖然許多其他例子表明，螞蟻和植物之間存在互利或“共生”關(guān)系，但這一發(fā)現(xiàn)是雙方完全依賴彼此而得以生存的唯一一例。