蚂蚁

代红二

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.

斐济某些物种通过播种来种植食物比人类早了三百万年。蚂蚁收集和种植种子，甚至保护种子不被吃掉。这种昆虫还会给幼苗施肥，以帮助幼苗生长。蚂蚁吃成熟植物的果实，收获种子用于进一步耕作。这种独特的共生关系对蚂蚁和植物都有好处。

人类在约一万两千年前开始耕种，然而只有在过去50年里，科学家才意识到，我们不是唯一一个研究农业的物种。

新的研究表明，我们人类被一种微不足道的斐济蚂蚁打败，它们最早成为农民比人类早了将近300万年。

人们观察到蚂蚁播种，施肥，等待植物结出美味的水果。

到底是什么触发形成了这种关系对科学家而言仍然是个未解之谜，但蚂蚁比最早的人类社会使用农业技术早了数百万年。

慕尼黑大学的科学家偶然发现的这一关系对动物王国来说是独一无二的。

“这真是太独特了，”加州科学院的常驻昆虫学家布莱恩·费舍尔博士这样告诉美国国家公共电台。

“目前，我们已经发现蚂蚁可以撒种，培育植物，但我们从来没有发现蚂蚁能种植自己赖以生存的植物。”

蚂蚁依靠植物提供赖以生存的家园和食物，而植物需要蚂蚁播种和传播种子。

穗鳞木属植物是附生植物，意味着它们在其他植物上生长。

斐济一种凹头臭蚁属的工蚁把成熟的植物果實搬到附近的树中。

他们选择有软树皮或能产生花蜜的树种播种——尽可能给予植物最好的生长环境。

一旦选定目标，蚂蚁将监测种下的种子，保护他们不被饥饿的食草动物吃掉。

随着植物在蚂蚁的监督下生长，植物茎的基部长出虫菌穴。

蚂蚁给植物施肥，使植物加快生长。

植物长到足够大时，虫菌穴可为蚂蚁提供住所。

人们以前发现，蚂蚁喜欢住在这些小蚁穴中，但慕尼黑研究人员研究出这一关系的本质在于：蚂蚁播种和培育植物是为了给自己创建新家园。蚂蚁会吃穗鳞木属植物的果实，收获种子用于后期播种。

虽然许多其他例子表明，蚂蚁和植物之间存在互利或“共生”关系，但这一发现是双方完全依赖彼此而得以生存的唯一一例。