The first ant was a hunter-gatherer. But around 50 million years ago, one ant species discovered agriculture and began cultivating fungus gardens for food. Today over 230 species of 'fungus-farming ants', all descended from that single ant pioneer, participate in intricate symbioses with their cultivated fungi. These symbioses also include a fungal 'crop disease' and bacteria that produce antibiotics useful to the ants. Using DNA sequence data and computer algorithms, this research will focus on reconstructing the shared evolutionary histories of the farming ants and the fungi that they cultivate, shedding light on the origin and evolution of this spectacular biological system.
The project will benefit the education and career of one postdoctoral researcher, two graduate students, and a number of undergraduate interns. Ant workshops will foster enthusiasm for science in secondary and high-school students and museum exhibits and family festivals will educate the general public. Because ant agriculture has become a model system for the study of symbiosis and coevolution, the results of this project will benefit a wide range of biologists. Finally, the results could benefit society in general because fungus-growing ants provide a rare non-human model system for the emerging field of 'Darwinian agriculture', aimed at improving human agricultural methods through the study of natural systems.
