Maintaining healthy Fungus

Post here for any notes or records of sightings in the wild. Behaviour, nuptial flights etc, everything about these ants from the Tropics!
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Acromyrmexbob
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Maintaining healthy Fungus

Post by Acromyrmexbob » Fri Mar 25, 2016 7:21 am

Some interesting info about fungus and ants relationship.

It has been suggested that one of the main countermeasures the ants have against parasitic fungi is to maintain their fungus at a pH of 5 (acidic) which promotes their symbiotic fungal growth and inhibits the damaging parasitic fungus.Leaf Cutters seem to produce a secretion from their metapleural gland which lowers the pH of leaves coming into the nest from pH7-8 to pH5. In an experiment where all of the ants were removed from the fungus, the pH of the fungus rose from pH5 to pH7 and the parasitic fungi started to grow.

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