ABOVE: Weaver ants (Oecophylla smaragdina) and other ant species may protect their plant hosts from infectious bacteria and fungi.
KIM AAEN, NATUREEYES
The paper
J. Offenberg, C. Damgaard, “Ants suppressing plant pathogens: a review,” Oikos, doi:10.1111/oik.06744, 2019.
Some ants produce natural antibiotic chemicals to defend themselves against fungi and bacteria. Ecologist Joachim Offenberg of Aarhus University in Denmark wondered what effect these compounds had on the health of the plants the ants called home. “We had this thought that if ants produce antibiotics, maybe these antibiotics could have an effect . . . on the diseases of the plants they walk on,” he tells The Scientist.
In a review of studies investigating the effect of ants on plant pathogens, he and fellow Aarhus ecologist Christian Damgaard found that, out of 30 plant species that were commonly inhabited by some kind of ant, 18 showed a decrease in the effects of pathogens. ...
