Evidence of Ant Cooperation: Interdependent Ant Habitats with Aniek Ivens

Finding Genius Podcast

Richard Jacobs

Medicine, Health & Fitness

4.4 • 1K Ratings

🗓️ 4 January 2021

⏱️ 32 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Did you know that ants actually keep and "milk" livestock? Evolutionary ecologist Aniek Ivens shares this tidbit and more alluring ant facts in this episode.

Listen and learn

How ants practice agriculture by raising a specific fungus species, even weeding and fertilizing their crops,
How the ecological role of insects connects ants, aphids, and tree roots, and
How ant and aphid microbiomes show species specificity, working to maintain a healthy ant life cycle.

Researcher and evolutionary ecologist Aniek Ivens runs projects both in The Netherlands and New York. Her work centers on the evolution and ecology of cooperation, and, as she explains to listeners, ants are therefore the perfect animal to study. The ant colony structure works as a superorganism: "ants are like cells in the body of the colony," she says, with the ant queen as vital organ.

As a kid she was fascinated by ants and she brings that childlike fascination alongside her rigorous research. She offers listeners amazing time-lapse images of an ant's life that are startlingly sophisticated, from the well-known leaf cutter species that raises a special fungus to other ant species that work with aphids in a type of exchange for services.

We know aphids as pests, but some ant and aphid species depend on each other for life. Aphids actually live inside some ant nests, feeding off of the sap of tree roots. These aphids excrete a sort of "honeydew" or sugar water and the ants eat this excretion, but not as an afterthought. The ants actually tap the aphid's abdomen when they are ready to eat, almost like humans milking a cow. In turn, the ants protect the aphids from other pests and clean them—those sugary substances can get moldy quickly, which could kill the aphid. The ants keep the aphids and their area clean and mold-free. What's really fascinating is this is just the tip of the ant-aphid specialization.

Aniek continues explaining how the microbiomes of both insects play a role, how the microbiome of an ant species in Japan is similar to the same in New York state, and how she's working to finish a study using ant and aphids as a model species for microbiome research. Listen in for more astounding ant facts.

For more about her work and for contact information, see her website: aniek.nyc.

Available on Apple Podcasts: apple.co/2Os0myK

Transcript

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0:00.0	Forget frequently asked questions common sense common knowledge or Google how about advice from a real genius
0:06.8	95% of people in any profession are good enough to be qualified and licensed 5% go and beyond. They become very good at what they do.
0:15.1	But only 0.1% are real Jesus.
0:18.3	Richard Jacobs has made it his life's mission to find them for you.
0:22.4	He hunts down and interviews geniuses in every field,
0:25.1	sleep science, cancer, stem cells, ketogenic diets, and more. Here come the geniuses.
0:30.3	This is the Finding Genius Podcast.
0:33.0	That is Richard Jacobs.
0:35.0	Hello, this is Richard Jacobs with the Finding Genius Podcast.
0:41.0	I have Anique Ivins. She's an evolutionary ecologist. She's over in the Netherlands.
0:46.1	And we're going to talk about cooperation between ants and colonies or between ants and
0:51.1	other organisms. So, Anique, thanks for coming.
0:54.0	Thank you, thanks for having me.
0:55.6	How did you first get interested in ants and their relationships to other organisms?
0:59.6	Well, my parents tell me it was really early on as a kid. I was already fascinated by ants. I would during summertime walk around in the garden, use my little shuffle and dig up ants and so there was already there like a little seed
1:17.5	glances and then I am studying biology I was doing a bachelor's degree in biology and it was general biology but I came across
1:26.2	a course in evolutionary biology and I realized that actually the evolution of cooperation is a fascinating theme within evolutionary theory.
1:36.0	And it turned out that you can perfectly study that using ants.
1:41.0	So that really brought my two interests together.
1:44.0	Oh so what kind of circumstances do you see ants cooperating?
1:48.0	Is it with plants or is it with other animals?
1:50.0	What do you see?
	...

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