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	<channel>
		<title>Conservation news</title>
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		<link>https://news.mongabay.com/list/ants/</link>
		<description>Environmental science and conservation news</description>
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	<title>News on Ants</title>
	<link>https://news.mongabay.com/list/ants/</link>
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				<item>
					<title>Ants perform life-saving amputations on injured nestmates, study finds</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/08/ants-perform-life-saving-amputations-on-injured-nestmates-study-finds/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/08/ants-perform-life-saving-amputations-on-injured-nestmates-study-finds/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>02 Aug 2024 18:11:33 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Liz Kimbrough]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Liz Kimbrough]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2024/08/02165543/230427_Camponotus_fellah_026-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=285619</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Florida and Global]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animal Behavior, Animal Intelligence, Animals, Ants, Biodiversity, Green, Happy-upbeat Environmental, Insects, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Ants perform amputations on injured nestmates to save their lives, according to a new study. The research published in the journal Current Biology found that Florida carpenter ants (Camponotus floridanus) can assess wound locations and adjust their treatment accordingly —a level of medical intervention previously only observed in humans. “The fact that the ants are [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Ants perform amputations on injured nestmates to save their lives, according to a new study. The research published in the journal Current Biology found that Florida carpenter ants (Camponotus floridanus) can assess wound locations and adjust their treatment accordingly —a level of medical intervention previously only observed in humans. “The fact that the ants are able to diagnose a wound, see if it&#8217;s infected or sterile, and treat it accordingly over long periods of time by other individuals — the only medical system that can rival that would be the human one,” said Erik Frank, a behavioral ecologist at the University of Würzburg in Germany and lead author of the study. The research team observed that when a carpenter ant&#8217;s leg was injured at the thigh (femur), other ants would bite off the entire limb at the base. This radical procedure prevented life-threatening infections from spreading through the injured ant’s body. Remarkably, about 90% of the amputated ants survived the treatment and resumed their full range of duties in the nest despite losing one of their six legs. &#8220;Our study proves for the first time that animals also use prophylactic amputations in the course of wound treatment. And it shows that the ants orientate the treatment to the type of injury,&#8221; said Laurent Keller, an evolutionary biologist at the University of Lausanne in Switzerland and senior author of the study. https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2024/08/02180759/4mbvid.mp4 A Florida carpenter ant amputating the leg of a nestmate in a laboratory experiment. Video by Dany Buffat. When&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2024/08/ants-perform-life-saving-amputations-on-injured-nestmates-study-finds/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
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					<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-285619</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>How many ants live on Earth? At least 20 quadrillion, scientists say</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2022/12/how-many-ants-live-on-earth-at-least-20-quadrillion-scientists-say/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2022/12/how-many-ants-live-on-earth-at-least-20-quadrillion-scientists-say/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>12 Dec 2022 07:37:28 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Shannon Banks]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Rhett Butler]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2022/12/10224715/Ants-4-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=263468</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Global]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Ants, Biodiversity, Ecology, Environment, and Insects]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Whether a source of curiosity or annoyance, ants are central to life on Earth. Their microscopic world may seem foreign to us, but without them our world would be just as unrecognizable. Now, a recent study in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) estimates just how many ants are all around us: [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Whether a source of curiosity or annoyance, ants are central to life on Earth. Their microscopic world may seem foreign to us, but without them our world would be just as unrecognizable. Now, a recent study in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) estimates just how many ants are all around us: a staggering 20 quadrillion (20,000,000,000,000,000), about 2.5 million ants for every human. This unimaginable number is a conservative estimate, said the researchers, as they could not yet account for subterranean ants or compile enough data from Northern Asia and Central Africa. Still, the study has made nature lovers — including the study authors — regard the insects in a new light. “I think we quickly overlook what’s beneath our feet,” said insect ecologist and co-lead author Sabine Nooten at the University of Würzburg in Germany. Nooten and her co-lead author, ecologist Patrick Schultheiss, conducted the work while at the University of Hong Kong. Red ants. Image courtesy of shammiknr – Pixabay Ants are one of the most successful organisms on the planet. Since their emergence more than 140 million years ago, they have managed to ingrain themselves in nearly every facet of life on Earth. The key to their success lies in their sophisticated social structures. Well-run colonies work instinctively and efficiently. They aerate soil, transport seeds underground, and are a vital food source for many organisms. At 12 metric megatons of dry carbon, the total biomass of ants exceeds that of all wild birds&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2022/12/how-many-ants-live-on-earth-at-least-20-quadrillion-scientists-say/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2022/12/how-many-ants-live-on-earth-at-least-20-quadrillion-scientists-say/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-263468</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Top 15 species discoveries from 2021 (Photos)</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2021/12/top-15-species-discoveries-from-2021-photos/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2021/12/top-15-species-discoveries-from-2021-photos/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>21 Dec 2021 18:29:54 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Liz Kimbrough]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Liz Kimbrough]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2021/12/21182636/Screen-Shot-2021-12-21-at-12.26.13-PM-768x512.png" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=250851</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, Amazon, Atlantic Forest, Brazil, Ecuador, Global, Guiana Shield, India, Latin America, South America, Venezuela, West Africa, and Western Ghats]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Agriculture, Animals, Ants, Bats, Biodiversity, Birding, Botany, Carnivores, Cetaceans, Charismatic Animals, Climate Change, Conservation, Critically Endangered Species, Cryptic Species, Culture, Deforestation, DNA, Ecosystems, Endangered Species, Endangered Species Act, Environment, Flowers, Forests, Global Environmental Crisis, Green, Happy-upbeat Environmental, Herps, Insects, Islands, Lizards, Mammals, Marine, Marine Animals, Marine Conservation, Marine Mammals, New Discovery, Oceans, Oil Drilling, Orchids, Owls, Plants, Plastic, Rainforests, Reptiles, Research, Saving Species From Extinction, Shipping, Snakes, Solutions, Species Discovery, Tropical Forests, Whales, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[With humans sending probes to Mars and the sun, one might think we’ve already explored the full extent of our own planet. But scientists say we’ve only begun to find and describe the riches here on Earth. “I think most people believe that we know most species on Earth … but in the best-case scenario, [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[With humans sending probes to Mars and the sun, one might think we’ve already explored the full extent of our own planet. But scientists say we’ve only begun to find and describe the riches here on Earth. “I think most people believe that we know most species on Earth … but in the best-case scenario, we know 20% of Earth’s species,” Mario Moura, a professor at the Federal University of Paraíba in Brazil, told Mongabay in a March 2021 interview.  Moura is the co-creator of a study that maps out places in the world likely to hold the highest number of species unknown to science. As it turns out, there are a lot. This year, Mongabay reported on newly described species from nearly every continent, including a fuzzy orange bat from West Africa, tiny screech owls from Brazil, an acrobatic North American skunk, a snake from the Himalayas (found on Instagram), a new whale species in the Gulf of Mexico, an Ecuadoran ant whose name broke the gender binary, and an Australian “killer tobacco.” Map showing the portion of undiscovered species worldwide. Image by Mario R. Moura. (Moura and Jetz 2021) “Every year, as scientists explore the world’s ecosystems, search herbaria and fungaria, sequence organisms’ DNA and, increasingly, browse social media, they come across species of plants and fungi that have not been scientifically described,” says the “State of the World’s Plants and Fungi 2020” report, released by the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. However, though a species may be new&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2021/12/top-15-species-discoveries-from-2021-photos/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2021/12/top-15-species-discoveries-from-2021-photos/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-250851</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Naming of new ant species from Ecuador breaks with binary gender conventions</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2021/07/naming-of-new-ant-species-from-ecuador-breaks-with-binary-gender-conventions/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2021/07/naming-of-new-ant-species-from-ecuador-breaks-with-binary-gender-conventions/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>05 Jul 2021 13:42:24 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Jansen Baier]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Maria Angeles Salazar]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2021/07/05132229/anr1-768x512.png" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=244514</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Ecuador, Latin America, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Ants, Fellows, Insects, Research, Species Discovery, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Scientists describing a new species of ant, Strumigenys ayersthey, have broken with conventional naming traditions and used the pronoun “they” instead of the traditional male or female form to promote nonbinary gender inclusivity. The new ant, described in a recent paper in ZooKeys, was named after the late artist and human rights activist Jeremy Ayers. [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Scientists describing a new species of ant, Strumigenys ayersthey, have broken with conventional naming traditions and used the pronoun “they” instead of the traditional male or female form to promote nonbinary gender inclusivity. The new ant, described in a recent paper in ZooKeys, was named after the late artist and human rights activist Jeremy Ayers. Traditionally, a species named after a person would have an “i” appended at the end of the name for males, or “ae” for females; in this case, ayersi or ayersae. Instead, the researchers went with ayersthey. They did this to honor Ayers and the large number of people who do not identify with either the male and female genders, according to study author Douglas Booher, a Yale postdoctoral researcher, and co-author Philipp Hönle, a doctoral student at the Technical University of Darmstadt, Germany. &#8220;In contrast to the traditional naming practices that identify individuals as one of two distinct genders, we have chosen a non-Latinized portmanteau honoring the artist Jeremy Ayers and representing people that do not identify with conventional binary gender assignments, Strumigenys ayersthey,” the authors wrote in the study. Strumigenys ayersthey. Image courtesy of Philipp Hönle. Ayers was an eclectic artist, publishing photography books, authoring a column in Andy Warhol’s Interview magazine, and writing lyrics for both R.E.M. and the B-52s. Indeed, R.E.M. lead singer and songwriter Michael Stipe joined Booher in writing the etymology section of the paper explaining the decision to use the pronoun “they” to honor the artist. Ayers is remembered&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2021/07/naming-of-new-ant-species-from-ecuador-breaks-with-binary-gender-conventions/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-244514</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Graphic novel version of classic science memoir aims for new audiences</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2020/11/graphic-novel-version-of-classic-science-memoir-aims-for-new-audiences/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2020/11/graphic-novel-version-of-classic-science-memoir-aims-for-new-audiences/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>13 Nov 2020 14:07:31 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Mongabay.com]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Genevieve Belmaker]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2020/11/13123554/9781610919586_Wilson-Ottaviani_Naturalist-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=236853</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Global and United States]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Ants, Arts, Biology, Books, Insects, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Over 25 years ago, world-renowned scientist Edward O. Wilson (often referred to as E.O. Wilson), published his celebrated homage to his personal journey as a scientist, biologist, and human being, Naturalist. Dubbed by the LA Times on its release as “one of the finest scientific memoirs ever written,” the book explores Wilson’s childhood exploring nature [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Over 25 years ago, world-renowned scientist Edward O. Wilson (often referred to as E.O. Wilson), published his celebrated homage to his personal journey as a scientist, biologist, and human being, Naturalist. Dubbed by the LA Times on its release as “one of the finest scientific memoirs ever written,” the book explores Wilson’s childhood exploring nature in Alabama and the Florida panhandle. He has authored over 20 books and is a two-time Pulitzer prize winner. The graphic adaption of Naturalist was conceived by author Jim Ottaviani, who is well-known for his graphic novels about scientists, including Alan Turning, Jane Goodall, Richard Feynman, and others. The book’s illustrator, C.M. Butzer, is a veteran cartoonist. Mongabay caught up with Ottaviani and the crew at publisher Island Press about Naturalist: A Graphic Adaptation to find out more about how it came to fruition and how it can reach a new audience for Wilson’s lessons of environmental stewardship, study and conservation. An interior page of the graphic memoir depicts E.O. Wilson on his path of scientific discovery. Image by C.M. Butzer courtesy Island Press. Mongabay (MB): What drew you to this project? Jim Ottaviani (JO): The short answer is: because they asked. I would never have had the audacity to suggest adapting the memoir of such an important scientist on my own. So, Rebecca Bright, our editor at Island Press, approached me about doing an adaptation of this classic, and never having done such a thing I was excited about the challenge. I knew I&#8217;d&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2020/11/graphic-novel-version-of-classic-science-memoir-aims-for-new-audiences/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-236853</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>More remote islands might be more susceptible to invasive species: study</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2018/08/more-remote-islands-might-be-more-susceptible-to-invasive-species-study/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2018/08/more-remote-islands-might-be-more-susceptible-to-invasive-species-study/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>29 Aug 2018 16:22:26 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Mongabay.com]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Mike Gaworecki]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2018/08/29161511/180828104014_1_900x600_1200px-cropped-768x433.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=209812</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Global]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Ants, Biodiversity, Birds, Conservation, Environment, Global Environmental Crisis, Invasive Species, Islands, Mammals, Plants, Reptiles, Research, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[More isolated oceanic islands harbor fewer native species due to the fact that plants and animals are less capable of naturally dispersing to and colonizing those islands. This is known as the species-isolation relationship (SIR), one of the most fundamental concepts in the study of island biogeography. While the isolation of islands means that they [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[More isolated oceanic islands harbor fewer native species due to the fact that plants and animals are less capable of naturally dispersing to and colonizing those islands. This is known as the species-isolation relationship (SIR), one of the most fundamental concepts in the study of island biogeography. While the isolation of islands means that they tend to be low in species richness, it also means that they are home to exceptionally high levels of endemism. Because a disproportionately high number of island species are found nowhere else, the estimated 465,000 islands on Earth are critically important to overall global biodiversity, even though they comprise just 5 percent of our planet’s total land area. But as humans have extended their reach ever-farther across the globe, the introduction of non-native species has come to have an increasingly critical effect on island biodiversity. Alien species can often be invasive, driving native species numbers down or even pushing them towards extinction. A 2015 study found that nearly 40 percent of all species currently listed as critically endangered are confined to islands, and identified invasive species as one of the chief threats to islands’ native flora and fauna. Now, new research shows that SIR does not hold for non-native species, determining that more remote islands may actually be more susceptible to invasion by alien species, which could have important implications for the preservation of global biodiversity. “While isolation has shaped natural colonization of islands for millennia, globalization in trade and transport has led to a&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2018/08/more-remote-islands-might-be-more-susceptible-to-invasive-species-study/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-209812</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>The diversity of biodiversity: Connecting shrews, ants and slime molds with carbon storage</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2018/06/the-diversity-of-biodiversity-connecting-shrews-ants-and-slime-molds-with-carbon-storage/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2018/06/the-diversity-of-biodiversity-connecting-shrews-ants-and-slime-molds-with-carbon-storage/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>14 Jun 2018 02:02:14 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Joshua Parfitt]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[John Cannon]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2018/06/13035039/Diachea-radiata-JEU3-2-768x451.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=207399</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, Central Africa, and Democratic Republic Of Congo]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Ants, Biodiversity, carbon, Carbon Emissions, Climate Change, Conservation, Ecology, Environment, Forest Carbon, Forests, Insects, Logging, Mammals, Primary Forests, Rainforests, Research, Secondary Forests, Timber, Tropical Forests, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Tropical forests are key defenders in the fight against climate change. They lock down around 25 percent of the world’s carbon in their canopies, trunks and soils, a function so crucial that they play a prominent role in the 2015 Paris climate agreement. Research also shows that high-carbon forests can anchor richer ecosystems. This is [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Tropical forests are key defenders in the fight against climate change. They lock down around 25 percent of the world’s carbon in their canopies, trunks and soils, a function so crucial that they play a prominent role in the 2015 Paris climate agreement. Research also shows that high-carbon forests can anchor richer ecosystems. This is a win-win situation for climate mitigation and wildlife conservation. However, according to a recent study published in the journal Science Advances, the riches of high-carbon stocks are not shared equally among the various species found in forests. Forests that are in the process of growing back — for example, after they’ve been logged for timber — seem to provide ideal conditions for pioneer species not found in old-growth forests. A regrowth forest canopy. Image by Frederik Van de Perre/University of Antwerp. “In the case of slime molds, we think that this less-humid environment in regrowth forests might be a more optimal growing situation,” said Frederik Van de Perre, a biologist and doctoral student at the University of Antwerp in Belgium and the lead author of the paper. Earlier studies have detected positive links between biodiversity and above-ground carbon storage. However, in one study, this positive effect was only visible when researchers drilled down to the relatively fine scale of 0.1 hectares (0.25 acres). According to a 2017 paper by ecologist Martin Sullivan of the University of Leeds in the U.K. and his colleagues, published in the journal Scientific Reports, the biodiversity-carbon relationship remains unknown at scales relevant&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2018/06/the-diversity-of-biodiversity-connecting-shrews-ants-and-slime-molds-with-carbon-storage/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-207399</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>New species of ‘exploding ant’ discovered in Borneo</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2018/04/new-species-of-exploding-ant-discovered-in-borneo/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2018/04/new-species-of-exploding-ant-discovered-in-borneo/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>19 Apr 2018 18:33:20 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Morgan Erickson-Davis]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Morgan Erickson-Davis]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2018/04/19182635/explodens2-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=205954</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Global Forest Reporting Network]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Borneo, Brunei, and Southeast Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Ants, Environment, Forests, Insects, Invertebrates, Rainforests, Research, Species Discovery, Tropical Forests, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
											<grant>
							<![CDATA[G-1710-55576]]>
						</grant>
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[High up in the treetops of Borneo live “exploding ants,” so named because of their unique defensive behavior. When a potential enemy threatens their colony, these ants kill themselves by rupturing their own abdomens to release a sticky, repellant liquid. Now, researchers have identified a new species of exploding ant in Brunei, fittingly named Colobopsis [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[High up in the treetops of Borneo live “exploding ants,” so named because of their unique defensive behavior. When a potential enemy threatens their colony, these ants kill themselves by rupturing their own abdomens to release a sticky, repellant liquid. Now, researchers have identified a new species of exploding ant in Brunei, fittingly named Colobopsis explodens. Previously lumped in with the species Camponotus saundersi, the new species sports a number of differences, including a yellower defensive liquid that led the researchers to nickname the species “Yellow Goo.” Their description was published today in ZooKeys. &#8220;They explode when attacked by an enemy (or poked with a finger),&#8221; lead author Alice Laciny with the University of Vienna, told CBC News. &#8220;The composition of the goo is currently under investigation, but it certainly contains sticky and toxic components.&#8221; Minor worker of C. explodens with posterior raised in a defensive pose. Photo courtesy of Alexey Kopchinskiy In their study, the researchers noted that C. explodens is especially trigger-happy when it comes to its unusual defense in that it is “particularly prone to self-sacrifice when threatened by enemy arthropods, as well as intruding researchers.&#8221; They describe its ooze as bright yellow with “a distinctive spice-like” smell. Because of these attributes, as well as its abundance and the fact that the scientists were able to observe their suicidal behavior both in the wild and in controlled lab settings, the researchers have chosen C. explodens to be the “model species” for the exploding ant group. This means that&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2018/04/new-species-of-exploding-ant-discovered-in-borneo/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-205954</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Study finds hundreds of thousands of tropical species at risk of extinction due to deforestation</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2017/05/study-finds-hundreds-of-thousands-of-tropical-species-at-risk-of-extinction-due-to-deforestation/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2017/05/study-finds-hundreds-of-thousands-of-tropical-species-at-risk-of-extinction-due-to-deforestation/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>05 May 2017 16:16:00 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Mike Gaworecki]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Mike Gaworecki]]>
					</author>
															<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2017/05/05152810/co06-1366-742x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=195447</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Global]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Ants, Beetles, Biodiversity, Birds, Butterflies, Climate Change, Deforestation, Environment, Extinction, Forest Fragmentation, Forests, Frogs, Global Environmental Crisis, Insects, Lizards, Mammals, Mass Extinction, Mosquitoes, Rainforests, Research, Saving Species From Extinction, Solutions, Trees, Tropical Deforestation, Tropical Forests, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[A 2015 study found that humans activities are driving species loss at a rate 100 times faster than historical baseline levels — which the researchers behind the study characterized as a conservative estimate. This finding fueled speculation that we’re currently witnessing a sixth global mass extinction event. New research published in the Proceedings of the [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[A 2015 study found that humans activities are driving species loss at a rate 100 times faster than historical baseline levels — which the researchers behind the study characterized as a conservative estimate. This finding fueled speculation that we’re currently witnessing a sixth global mass extinction event. New research published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) provides further evidence that, even if we haven’t already entered a sixth era of mass species loss on a global scale, it may yet be imminent. John Alroy, a professor of biological sciences at Australia’s Macquarie University, examined local-scale ecological data in order to forecast potential global extinction rates and found that hundreds of thousands of species are at risk if humans disturb all pristine forests remaining in the tropics. “Disturbance is no small matter, because roughly two-thirds to three-quarters of all the world&#8217;s species are found in tropical forests even though tropical forests only cover about 10 percent of the entire Earth&#8217;s continental area,&#8221; Alroy said in a statement. Scientists have long believed that the rate at which we are destroying tropical forests, and the habitat those forests represent, could drive a global mass extinction event, but the extent of the potential losses has never been fully understood. Mass extinction will occur primarily in tropical forests because Earth’s terrestrial biodiversity is so heavily concentrated in those ecosystems, Alroy notes in the study. In order to examine just how severe the impacts might be, he applied a highly accurate method&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2017/05/study-finds-hundreds-of-thousands-of-tropical-species-at-risk-of-extinction-due-to-deforestation/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2017/05/study-finds-hundreds-of-thousands-of-tropical-species-at-risk-of-extinction-due-to-deforestation/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-195447</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Newly discovered beetle catches a ride on the backs of army ants to get around</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2017/02/newly-discovered-beetle-catches-a-ride-on-the-backs-of-army-ants-to-get-around/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2017/02/newly-discovered-beetle-catches-a-ride-on-the-backs-of-army-ants-to-get-around/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>10 Feb 2017 12:23:45 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Mike Gaworecki]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Mike Gaworecki]]>
					</author>
															<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2017/02/10115352/N.-kronaueri__%C2%A9-M.-Maruyama-1-725x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=193118</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Central America and Costa Rica]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Ants, Biodiversity, Environment, Happy-upbeat Environmental, Insects, Invertebrates, Rainforests, Species Discovery, Tropical Forests, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Dr. Christoph von Beeren of Germany’s Technical University Darmstadt was collecting “ant guests” during the nightly emigration of an army ant colony at La Selva Biological Station, a lowland Atlantic rainforest in Costa Rica, when he and his colleagues realized that the abdomens of some of the ants looked odd. The researchers used their headlamps [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Dr. Christoph von Beeren of Germany’s Technical University Darmstadt was collecting “ant guests” during the nightly emigration of an army ant colony at La Selva Biological Station, a lowland Atlantic rainforest in Costa Rica, when he and his colleagues realized that the abdomens of some of the ants looked odd. The researchers used their headlamps to get a better look. “From above it is difficult to detect the parasite, because the beetle closely resembles the ant&#8217;s abdomen,” von Beeren said in a statement. “When viewed from the side, however, it looks as if the ants had a second abdomen. To our surprise the odd looking &#8216;ant abdomens&#8217; turned out to be beetles.&#8221; Von Beeren and his colleagues described the newly discovered beetle species that they had spotted catching a ride on the backs of army ants in an article published in the journal BMC Zoology yesterday. N. kronaueri hitching a ride on an army ant, viewed from above. Photo by Munetoshi Maruyama. &#8220;To the human eye, the beetle is quite difficult to detect when attached to the ant as they are similar in size and shape to the host ants&#8217; abdomen,” von Beeren added. “The outer shell of the beetle is also smooth and shiny, just like the ants. We think that by imitating this part of the ants&#8217; body they might reduce the chance of recognition by the ants, allowing the beetle to travel undetected.&#8221; In the BMC Zoology article, von Beeren and his co-author, Alexey Tishechkin of the&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2017/02/newly-discovered-beetle-catches-a-ride-on-the-backs-of-army-ants-to-get-around/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-193118</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Building roads for agricultural expansion in Brazil is aiding the spread of insects that harm crops</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2016/04/building-roads-agricultural-expansion-brazil-aiding-spread-insects-harm-crops/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2016/04/building-roads-agricultural-expansion-brazil-aiding-spread-insects-harm-crops/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>29 Apr 2016 16:37:02 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Mike Gaworecki]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Mike Gaworecki]]>
					</author>
															<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2016/04/01214136/C3-441x330.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=186143</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Brazil and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Agriculture, Ants, Conservation, Environment, Insects, Roads, and Savannas]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Scientists have discovered what they’re calling an “unintended and ironic” consequence of building roads to aid agricultural expansion in Brazil: those same roads are providing the perfect habitat for insects that can do serious harm to crops. Ernane Vieira-Neto, a Ph.D. candidate with University of Florida’s Tropical Conservation and Development Program, spent four years in [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Scientists have discovered what they’re calling an “unintended and ironic” consequence of building roads to aid agricultural expansion in Brazil: those same roads are providing the perfect habitat for insects that can do serious harm to crops. Ernane Vieira-Neto, a Ph.D. candidate with University of Florida’s Tropical Conservation and Development Program, spent four years in the field in Brazil studying leaf-cutter ants (Atta laevigata). Though it is an iconic and ecologically important species, leaf-cutter ants can cause millions of dollars in crop losses each year even when highly toxic pesticides are in use. Vieira-Neto teamed up with Emilio Bruna and Heraldo Vasconcelos of Brazil’s Universidade Federal de Uberlandia to study an explosion in the population of leaf-cutter ants along roadsides in the Brazilian Cerrado, a vast tropical savannah comprised of interspersed grasslands and forests that is being converted for agricultural purposes at such an alarming rate that is considered a new global deforestation hotspot. The Cerrado is largely responsible for Brazil’s emergence as an agricultural superpower, and approximately 4,600 miles of new road are to be built there over the next two decades. Vieira-Neto and team, who have summarized their findings in an article published by the Journal of Applied Ecology this month, found that all those new roads are likely to help leaf-cutters invade more cropland, as the number of ant colonies next to roads is much higher than in nearby areas of native vegetation. Ernane Vieira Neto and a leaf-cutter ant nest (Atta sp.) along a roadside in&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2016/04/building-roads-agricultural-expansion-brazil-aiding-spread-insects-harm-crops/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-186143</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>A toad&#8217;s relationship with its prey endures in the face of deforestation for palm oil</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2015/06/a-toads-relationship-with-its-prey-endures-in-the-face-of-deforestation-for-palm-oil/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2015/06/a-toads-relationship-with-its-prey-endures-in-the-face-of-deforestation-for-palm-oil/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>15 Jun 2015 18:16:00 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Jordanna Dulaney]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Rebecca Kessler]]>
					</author>
															<enclosure url="" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">http://news.mongabaydev.co.uk/2015/06/a-toads-relationship-with-its-prey-endures-in-the-face-of-deforestation-for-palm-oil</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Borneo, Malaysia, and Sabah]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Ants, Biodiversity, Deforestation, Environment, Green, and Palm Oil]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Giant river toad. Photo credit: Rhett A. Butler. It&#8217;s no secret that vital biodiversity hotspots in Southeast Asia are under threat from logging and the spread of oil palm plantations. Biologists and conservationists have studied the effects of habitat degradation on individual species, but have rarely investigated how logging and conversion of rainforests to oil [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Giant river toad. Photo credit: Rhett A. Butler. It&#8217;s no secret that vital biodiversity hotspots in Southeast Asia are under threat from logging and the spread of oil palm plantations. Biologists and conservationists have studied the effects of habitat degradation on individual species, but have rarely investigated how logging and conversion of rainforests to oil palm agriculture change interspecies relationships. A study of a toad and its ant prey found that while the toad dwindled in disturbed habitats, a shortage of food was not the reason. The study focused on the relationship between the giant river toad (Phrynoidis juxtaspera), so-named because females can reach 8.5 inches long, and the ants it feeds on in the forests of northern Borneo. An international team of five researchers surveyed toads and ants in three different habitats: natural unlogged forests, logged forests, and oil palm plantations. The researchers used a headlamp to hunt toads at night in streams in the three habitat types. They pumped the stomachs of a total of 189 toads to learn what the toads had eaten, finding nearly 17,000 prey, most of them ants. They released the toads afterwards. The researchers used pitfall traps to survey ants near streams in the three habitats, collecting a total of nearly 66,000 ants belonging to 140 species. Unsurprisingly, they found fewer toads in the more disturbed habitats—as measured by the amount of remaining forest canopy cover. But ants showed the opposite pattern. They became both more abundant and more diverse at sites with&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2015/06/a-toads-relationship-with-its-prey-endures-in-the-face-of-deforestation-for-palm-oil/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-62894</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Termites suffer in logged forests and palm oil plantations</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2014/09/termites-suffer-in-logged-forests-and-palm-oil-plantations/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2014/09/termites-suffer-in-logged-forests-and-palm-oil-plantations/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>25 Sep 2014 15:48:00 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Heather D'angelo]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Tiffany Roufs]]>
					</author>
															<enclosure url="" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">http://news.mongabaydev.co.uk/2014/09/termites-suffer-in-logged-forests-and-palm-oil-plantations/</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Borneo, Malaysia, and Sabah]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Ants, Deforestation, Environment, Forests, Green, Insects, Old Growth Forests, Palm Oil, and Tropical Forests]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Ants appear more resilient to forest degradation than termites Scientists have long studied how birds, mammals, and amphibians respond to forest degradation, but what about the most abundant animals in the forest? Insects. A new study in Biodiversity and Conservation looks at how ants and termites reacted to forest changes in Malaysian Borneo. &#8220;It was [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Ants appear more resilient to forest degradation than termites Scientists have long studied how birds, mammals, and amphibians respond to forest degradation, but what about the most abundant animals in the forest? Insects. A new study in Biodiversity and Conservation looks at how ants and termites reacted to forest changes in Malaysian Borneo. &#8220;It was really exciting to dig the soil out, see how many ants and termites you&#8217;d get, see if they were the same or different, and later to try and work out the things that might be affecting their distributions,&#8221; said lead author Sarah Luke with Cambridge University. Ants and termites are considered the two most ecologically important insect groups because they provide a broad range of vital services including decomposition of leaf litter on the forest floor, seed dispersal, and nutrient and carbon cycling. But Luke&#8217;s research in Sabah, Malaysian Borneo, found that disturbed forests support different species and abundances of ants and termites than old-growth forests. Sarah Luke and her assistant check for ant and termite communities. Luke says, &#8220;Rain forests are amazing places to work. They are hugely complex with lots of different microhabitats harbouring many different organisms, and insects in particular can be found everywhere. Turn over leaf litter on the forest floor, look into a dead log, spill a few rice grains on a path.. And insects will appear!&#8221; Photo credit: Tim Harvey-Samuel. The research team sampled nearly 5,000 ants and 1,400 termites in three different habitats: an old-growth forest, a forest&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2014/09/termites-suffer-in-logged-forests-and-palm-oil-plantations/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-24646</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Horror movie bugs: new wasp species builds nest with the bodies of dead ants</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2014/07/horror-movie-bugs-new-wasp-species-builds-nest-with-the-bodies-of-dead-ants/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2014/07/horror-movie-bugs-new-wasp-species-builds-nest-with-the-bodies-of-dead-ants/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>02 Jul 2014 18:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Jeremy Hance]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Jeremy Hance]]>
					</author>
															<enclosure url="" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">http://news.mongabaydev.co.uk/2014/07/horror-movie-bugs-new-wasp-species-builds-nest-with-the-bodies-of-dead-ants/</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia and China]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animal Behavior, Animals, Ants, Environment, Forests, Green, Insects, Rainforests, Species Discovery, Strange, Tropical Forests, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Adult female of the new wasp species, the bone-house wasp. Photo courtesy of Staab et al.]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Adult female of the new wasp species, the bone-house wasp. Photo courtesy of Staab et al.This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2014/07/horror-movie-bugs-new-wasp-species-builds-nest-with-the-bodies-of-dead-ants/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-24990</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Ants plant rainforests, one seed at a time</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2014/04/ants-plant-rainforests-one-seed-at-a-time/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2014/04/ants-plant-rainforests-one-seed-at-a-time/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>14 Apr 2014 18:08:00 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Jordanna Dulaney]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Morgan Erickson-Davis]]>
					</author>
															<enclosure url="" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">http://news.mongabaydev.co.uk/2014/04/ants-plant-rainforests-one-seed-at-a-time/</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Amazon, Bolivia, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Ants, Deforestation, Environment, Forests, Green, Rainforest Destruction, Rainforests, and Seed Dispersal]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Deforestation is destroying forests around the world, but its effects are especially obvious in the Amazon Basin. Due to cattle ranching, soybean farming, logging, and slash-and-burn agriculture, the rainforest is disappearing at a rapid pace. In 2011, mongabay.com reported that a whopping 52.7 percent of Bolivia’s trees have been cut down, one of the highest [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Deforestation is destroying forests around the world, but its effects are especially obvious in the Amazon Basin. Due to cattle ranching, soybean farming, logging, and slash-and-burn agriculture, the rainforest is disappearing at a rapid pace. In 2011, mongabay.com reported that a whopping 52.7 percent of Bolivia’s trees have been cut down, one of the highest deforestation rates in the world. But a recent study published in the Journal of Ecology offers a unique solution to replanting the deforested landscapes: ants. Researchers Silvia Gallegos Ayala, Matthias Schleuning, and Isabell Hensen from LOEWE Biodiversity and Climate Research Centre and the University of Halle-Wittenberg studied the patterns of ant seed dispersal in heavily deforested areas in Bolivia. “We selected two montane forest remnants &#8230; characterized by high rates of deforestation [and] where forest and fire-degraded habitats formed sharp borders, where the forest was well preserved and where the vegetation in the degraded areas had similar compositions and successional stages,” Silvia Gallegos and Mattias Schleuning, lead researchers of the project, said in a communication to mongabay.com. Rainforest regeneration depends on the ability of tree seeds to colonize new regions, but many deforested areas are too dry and hot for seeds to germinate. Photo by Rhett A. Butler. Seed dispersal is an everyday event in forests, and is vital to keeping the forest growing and healthy. It occurs when animals or nonliving factors such as wind move seeds away from the trees from which they dropped. With animals, seed dispersal normally is due to food&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2014/04/ants-plant-rainforests-one-seed-at-a-time/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-25388</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>The enemy of your enemy is your ant bodyguard: spider uses one predator for protection against another</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2014/04/the-enemy-of-your-enemy-is-your-ant-bodyguard-spider-uses-one-predator-for-protection-against-another/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2014/04/the-enemy-of-your-enemy-is-your-ant-bodyguard-spider-uses-one-predator-for-protection-against-another/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>09 Apr 2014 16:20:00 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Ariel Mark]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Morgan Erickson-Davis]]>
					</author>
															<enclosure url="" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">http://news.mongabaydev.co.uk/2014/04/the-enemy-of-your-enemy-is-your-ant-bodyguard-spider-uses-one-predator-for-protection-against-another/</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Philippines and Tropics]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Ants, Arachnids, Environment, Forests, Green, Insects, Spiders, and Tropical Forests]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[The notion of spiders using ants as bodyguards seems a bit contradictory, but that is exactly what occurs on the tropical forest floors of the Philippines. The jumping spider (Phintella piatensis) strategically nests within the vicinity of the aggressive Asian weaver ant (Ocecophylla smaragdina) as a defense tactic against its main predator, the spitting spider [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[The notion of spiders using ants as bodyguards seems a bit contradictory, but that is exactly what occurs on the tropical forest floors of the Philippines. The jumping spider (Phintella piatensis) strategically nests within the vicinity of the aggressive Asian weaver ant (Ocecophylla smaragdina) as a defense tactic against its main predator, the spitting spider (Scytodes species). The behavior of a vulnerable species seeking protection of a different, more aggressive species is commonly seen among birds, but not among arachnids. In a recent study published in Behavioral Ecology and Social Biology, researchers Ximena Nelson of the University of Canterbury in New Zealand and Robert Jackson of Canterbury and the International Centre of Insect Physiology and Ecology in Kenya examined this dynamic relationship between the protective weaver ant, the timid jumping spider, and the predatory spitting spider. Jumping spiders are the main prey for spitting spiders. The spitting spider is a lethal hunter that, from a distance, shoots a sticky gum from its fangs onto its prey. The prey is rendered immobile just long enough for the spitting spider to inject it with venom and wrap it in silk. In the Philippines, the spitting spider and jumping spider inhabit the same large, waxy leaves. The spitting spider often spins its web directly above the nest of a jumping spider, allowing it to capture the jumping spider as it leaves or enters the nest. However, the researchers found that spitting spiders avoid building their webs above jumping spider nests when weaver ants&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2014/04/the-enemy-of-your-enemy-is-your-ant-bodyguard-spider-uses-one-predator-for-protection-against-another/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-25407</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Newly discovered pirate ant uses sickle-shaped mandibles to decimate rivals</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2013/06/newly-discovered-pirate-ant-uses-sickle-shaped-mandibles-to-decimate-rivals/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2013/06/newly-discovered-pirate-ant-uses-sickle-shaped-mandibles-to-decimate-rivals/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>21 Jun 2013 18:33:00 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Christina Pham]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Tiffany Roufs]]>
					</author>
															<enclosure url="" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">http://news.mongabaydev.co.uk/2013/06/newly-discovered-pirate-ant-uses-sickle-shaped-mandibles-to-decimate-rivals/</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Philippines]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Ants, Environment, Green, Insects, Invertebrates, Rainforests, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[A new species of ant has recently been discovered in the Hortarium of the Los Baños University in the Philippines. Scientists named it the pirate ant (Cardiocondyla pirata) due to the female’s unique pigmentation pattern: a distinctive stripe across the eyes that resembles a pirates’ eye-patch. The pirate ant belongs to a genus Cardiocondyla that [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[A new species of ant has recently been discovered in the Hortarium of the Los Baños University in the Philippines. Scientists named it the pirate ant (Cardiocondyla pirata) due to the female’s unique pigmentation pattern: a distinctive stripe across the eyes that resembles a pirates’ eye-patch. The pirate ant belongs to a genus Cardiocondyla that are distributed worldwide, but mainly found in the tropics. Scientists are currently unsure why the females possess this distinctive eye-marking. Back in 2008, during a field study of Cardiocondyla ants for her PhD thesis from the Universität Regensburg, Sabine Frohschammer and her colleague, Dr. Bernhard Seifert from the Senckenberg Museum für Naturkunde Görlitz, discovered this new species of ant by chance – between the cleavage of a big stone in a shady rainforest bed. Only later, through a magnifier, did Frohschammer and Seifert realize that these Cardiocondyla ants looked different from others, however it took a stereomicroscope (a microscope that allows an object to appear in three dimensions) for the pair to realize these ants may be a whole new species entirely. Head of holotype worker in dorsal view. Photo: Bernhard Seifert and Sabine Frohschammer. Both sexes of pirate ants are yellowish brown in color. What distinguishes between them is the pigmentation of a dark stripe across the females’ eyes and males’ mandibles. The males’ mandibles are not shear-shaped like in worker ants, but instead look like two long sickles. Similar to other Cardiocondyla species, the pirate ant is wingless. Therefore, while it is common&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2013/06/newly-discovered-pirate-ant-uses-sickle-shaped-mandibles-to-decimate-rivals/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-28821</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Ant communities more segregated in palm oil plantations than rainforest</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2013/03/ant-communities-more-segregated-in-palm-oil-plantations-than-rainforest/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2013/03/ant-communities-more-segregated-in-palm-oil-plantations-than-rainforest/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>21 Mar 2013 13:28:00 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Thomas Handley]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Jeremy Hance]]>
					</author>
															<enclosure url="" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">http://news.mongabaydev.co.uk/2013/03/ant-communities-more-segregated-in-palm-oil-plantations-than-rainforest/</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Borneo, Malaysia, and Southeast Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Agriculture, Animals, Ants, Deforestation, Ecology, Environment, Green, Insects, Invasive Species, Invertebrates, Islands, Monocultures, Palm Oil, Plantations, Rainforest Destruction, Rainforests, Tropical Forests, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Oil palm estate in Malaysia. Photo by: Rhett A. Butler. Ants are an important ecological group in both degraded and natural habitats. They interact with many other species and mediate a range of ecological processes. These interactions are often interpreted in the context of ant mosaics, where dominant species form strict territories, keeping other ants [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Oil palm estate in Malaysia. Photo by: Rhett A. Butler. Ants are an important ecological group in both degraded and natural habitats. They interact with many other species and mediate a range of ecological processes. These interactions are often interpreted in the context of ant mosaics, where dominant species form strict territories, keeping other ants out. This segregation between ant species is well-documented in monoculture plantations. Now new research published in Ecography has shown that these changes are driven by the replacement of rainforests with monocultures and not the arrival of non-native species. Sampling oil palm plantations and primary lowland rain forest in the Danum Valley Conservation Area, Sabah, Malaysia, researchers found that high degrees of species segregation, i.e. ant mosaics, were present in oil palm plantation, and were absent, or at least much weaker, in primary rainforest. &#8220;Oil palm plantation is much hotter and drier [than rainforest]. This means that there are fewer available nesting locations that are suitable cool and damp. One of the few remaining canopy nest sites in oil palm plantation are epiphytic bird&#8217;s nest ferns, and we found high levels of species segregation for the ant communities in these ferns. This indicates that ants may be competing for these valuable resources to a greater extent than they would in primary forest, giving rise to ant mosaics,&#8221; lead author Tom Fayle, with the University of South Bohemia, and a Member of the Forest Ecology and Conservation Group, Imperial College London told mongabay.com. Unidentified ant in Malaysian&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2013/03/ant-communities-more-segregated-in-palm-oil-plantations-than-rainforest/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-29354</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Blue tarantula, walking cactus, and a worm from Hell: the top 10 new species of 2011</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2012/05/blue-tarantula-walking-cactus-and-a-worm-from-hell-the-top-10-new-species-of-2011/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2012/05/blue-tarantula-walking-cactus-and-a-worm-from-hell-the-top-10-new-species-of-2011/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>23 May 2012 17:03:00 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Jeremy Hance]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Jeremy Hance]]>
					</author>
															<enclosure url="" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">http://news.mongabaydev.co.uk/2012/05/blue-tarantula-walking-cactus-and-a-worm-from-hell-the-top-10-new-species-of-2011/</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, Asia, Borneo, Brazil, Caribbean, China, East Africa, Latin America, Malaysia, Myanmar, South America, Southeast Asia, and Tanzania]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Ants, Biodiversity, Critically Endangered Species, Ecosystems, Endangered Species, Environment, Extinction, Flowers, Fungi, Green, Happy-upbeat Environmental, Invertebrates, Jellyfish, Marine, Marine Animals, Oceans, Orchids, Plants, Rainforests, Species Discovery, Spiders, Strange, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Sazima&#8217;s tarantula: one of the top ten new species discovered in 2011 according to the annual list by the International Institute for Species Exploration at Arizona State University. Photo by: Caroline S. Fukushima. A sneezing monkey, a blue tarantula, and an extinct walking cactus are just three of the remarkable new species listed in the [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Sazima&#8217;s tarantula: one of the top ten new species discovered in 2011 according to the annual list by the International Institute for Species Exploration at Arizona State University. Photo by: Caroline S. Fukushima. A sneezing monkey, a blue tarantula, and an extinct walking cactus are just three of the remarkable new species listed in the annual Top Ten New Species put together by the International Institute for Species Exploration at Arizona State University. This year&#8217;s list includes a wide-variety of life forms from fungi to flower and invertebrate to primate. &#8220;The top 10 is intended to bring attention to the biodiversity crisis and the unsung species explorers and museums who continue a 250-year tradition of discovering and describing the millions of kinds of plants, animals and microbes with whom we share this planet,&#8221; explains Quentin Wheeler, an entomologist who directs the International Institute for Species Exploration. The list is released every year on May 23rd to commemorate Carolus Linnaeus, the father of taxonomy. Top Ten New Species of 2011 in Photos and Video This mysterious primate (seen here in a reconstruction) not only made headlines last year, but continues to do so as a population of the believed to be Critically Endangered species was recently found in China. The new monkey, the Myanmar snub-nosed monkey (Rhinopithecus strykeri), was discovered byway of a carcass killed by a local hunter. Since then camera trap photos and video have been taken of the species. They are reportedly easy to hunt as locals say&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2012/05/blue-tarantula-walking-cactus-and-a-worm-from-hell-the-top-10-new-species-of-2011/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-30884</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Ant surprises on Murciélago Islands in Costa Rica</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2011/06/ant-surprises-on-murcielago-islands-in-costa-rica/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2011/06/ant-surprises-on-murcielago-islands-in-costa-rica/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>28 Jun 2011 15:42:00 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Jeremy Hance]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Jeremy Hance]]>
					</author>
															<enclosure url="" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">http://news.mongabaydev.co.uk/2011/06/ant-surprises-on-murcielago-islands-in-costa-rica/</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Costa Rica]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Ants, Biodiversity, Dry Forests, Environment, Fires, Forests, Green, Insects, Invasive Species, Invertebrates, Islands, Protected Areas, Tropical Conservation Science, and Tropical Forests]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Murciélago Islands as seen by Google Earth. The Murciélago Islands are seven small islands off the northwest coast of Costa Rica in the Area de Conservación Guanacaste (ACG), home to one of the largest intact dry tropical forests in Central America. Despite this, few scientists have studied the biodiversity of these small uninhabited islands. A [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Murciélago Islands as seen by Google Earth. The Murciélago Islands are seven small islands off the northwest coast of Costa Rica in the Area de Conservación Guanacaste (ACG), home to one of the largest intact dry tropical forests in Central America. Despite this, few scientists have studied the biodiversity of these small uninhabited islands. A new study in the open access journal Tropical Conservation Science has attempted to rectify this gap by conducting the first survey of insects, specifically ants, on the islands. Researchers were surprised at the richness of ant species on the island: 50 species were documented, only two of which were invasive species. &#8220;Even with the extremely dry conditions that occur during at least half of the year, low diversity of vegetation, and human disturbance, we found a greater number of ant species than expected on the Islas Murciélago,&#8221; the authors write. The islands suffer under drastic seasonal change: lush and green in the wet season, they become desert-like during the dry season when they are pounded by desiccating trade winds. The researchers found that these extreme seasons play a big role in ant behavior on the island. They found more ant species on islands in the wet seasons, mainly in the leaf litter. During the dry ants were harder to detect and less active. Jennifer Jacobs, lead author of the paper with the University of California, Berkeley, told mongabay.com that the trade winds during the dry season made it so difficult to land boats that, at&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2011/06/ant-surprises-on-murcielago-islands-in-costa-rica/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-32342</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>New species of zombie-creating fungi discovered</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2011/03/new-species-of-zombie-creating-fungi-discovered/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2011/03/new-species-of-zombie-creating-fungi-discovered/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>02 Mar 2011 22:01:00 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Jeremy Hance]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Jeremy Hance]]>
					</author>
															<enclosure url="" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">http://news.mongabaydev.co.uk/2011/03/new-species-of-zombie-creating-fungi-discovered/</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Atlantic Forest, Brazil, Latin America, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animal Behavior, Animals, Ants, Environment, Forests, Fragmentation, Fungi, Green, Insects, Invertebrates, Rainforests, Species Discovery, Strange, and Tropical Forests]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[As everyone knows, human zombies are created when an uninfected human is bitten by a member of the brain-craving undead. But what about ant zombies? Yes, that&#8217;s right: ant zombies. In the South American rainforest, ants have a mortal enemy: the parasitic fungi in the Ophiocordyceps (also known as Cordyceps) genus. These fungi infect ants [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[As everyone knows, human zombies are created when an uninfected human is bitten by a member of the brain-craving undead. But what about ant zombies? Yes, that&#8217;s right: ant zombies. In the South American rainforest, ants have a mortal enemy: the parasitic fungi in the Ophiocordyceps (also known as Cordyceps) genus. These fungi infect ants and other insects, forcing them to do its fungal bidding. For example, a spore-infected zombie ant will climb to a perfectly selected spot in the canopy where it will die. At this point a fungus stalk blooms out of the ant&#8217;s head; once fully grown the fungus will burst open spreading spores over the area and infecting other ants. Each zombie-inducing fungus species is specifically linked to one ant or other insect species. A paper in the open-access journal PLoS ONE describes four new species of this fungus from the Atlantic Forest in Brazil, laying the groundwork for studying the zombie relationship in a degraded habitat. Each of the new fungi species, from the Ophiocordyceps genus, were attached to a different species of carpenter ant. The Atlantic Forestt, running largely along the coast of Brazil, is one of the world&#8217;s most imperiled rainforests with less than 7% of its original extent remaining. While researchers have studied the relationship between the fungi and its hosts in the largely intact Amazon, little is known about how the fungi species copes in fragmented habitat. In this case, the new fungi species were &#8220;all collected within a small area&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2011/03/new-species-of-zombie-creating-fungi-discovered/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-32892</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Photos: ants take top prize at Veolia Wildlife Environment Photography contest</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2010/10/photos-ants-take-top-prize-at-veolia-wildlife-environment-photography-contest/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2010/10/photos-ants-take-top-prize-at-veolia-wildlife-environment-photography-contest/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>21 Oct 2010 18:34:00 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Jeremy Hance]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Jeremy Hance]]>
					</author>
															<enclosure url="" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">http://news.mongabaydev.co.uk/2010/10/photos-ants-take-top-prize-at-veolia-wildlife-environment-photography-contest/</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Brazil, Britain, Costa Rica, and Malaysia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Ants, Biodiversity, Birds, Bycatch, Deforestation, Endangered Species, Environment, Green, Herps, Insects, Mammals, Photos, Reptiles, Sea Turtles, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[An image of nocturnal ant silhouettes systematically devouring a leaf in Costa Rica has given Hungarian photographer, Bence Máté, the much-coveted Veolia Wildlife Environment Photographer of the Year award. In addition to being named Photographer of the year, Máté also won the Erik Hosking award, given to a young photographer (ages 18-26) for a portfolio [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[An image of nocturnal ant silhouettes systematically devouring a leaf in Costa Rica has given Hungarian photographer, Bence Máté, the much-coveted Veolia Wildlife Environment Photographer of the Year award. In addition to being named Photographer of the year, Máté also won the Erik Hosking award, given to a young photographer (ages 18-26) for a portfolio of images. Máté&#8217;s images include those taken in Costa Rica, Brazil, and Hungary. The Young Photographer of the Year (15-17 years old) award went to Fergus Gill of Scotland for capturing a fieldfare on Boxing Day in his backyard. The Gerald Durrell Award for photos taken of endangered species went to Andy Rouse for a head-on photo of a stalking Bengal tiger in Ranthambore National Park in India. Other endangered species photos commended this year include a sperm whale named Scar, a black rhino in Kenya, and a western tarsier in Borneo. The One Earth Award, which awards photos that highlight conservation and environmental photos, was won by Jordi Chias Pujol who photographed a sea turtle impossibly entangled in abandoned fishermen&#8217;s nets. Shark-finning, elephant-human conflict, the amphibian plague, and unsustainable hunting are other issues highlighted by commended photos in the category. Veolia Environment Wildlife Photography contest is run by the BBC Wildlife Magazine and the Natural History Museum in London. Bence Máté won Veolia Photographer of 2010 for this image of leaf-cutter ants in Costa Rica. Photo by: Bence Máté. Fergus Gill won best young photographer for his winter image of a fieldfare. Photo by:&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2010/10/photos-ants-take-top-prize-at-veolia-wildlife-environment-photography-contest/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
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										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-33469</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Leaf-cutter ants test theories about the Amazon&#8217;s biodiversity</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2008/07/leaf-cutter-ants-test-theories-about-the-amazons-biodiversity/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2008/07/leaf-cutter-ants-test-theories-about-the-amazons-biodiversity/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>23 Jul 2008 14:30:39 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Jeremy Hance]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Rhett Butler]]>
					</author>
															<enclosure url="" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">http://news.mongabaydev.co.uk/2008/12/leaf-cutter-ants-test-theories-about-the-amazons-biodiversity/</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Amazon]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Ants, Biodiversity, Environment, Forests, Green, Insects, Rainforests, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Leaf-cutter ants test theories about the Amazon&#8217;s stunning diversity Leaf-cutter ants test theories about the Amazon&#8217;s biodiversity Jeremy Hance, mongabay.com July 23, 2008 No one knows for certain how many insect species reside in the Amazon. One oft-quoted estimate is 30 million, but the actual number could be significantly lower or higher than this. Either [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Leaf-cutter ants test theories about the Amazon&#8217;s stunning diversity Leaf-cutter ants test theories about the Amazon&#8217;s biodiversity Jeremy Hance, mongabay.com July 23, 2008 No one knows for certain how many insect species reside in the Amazon. One oft-quoted estimate is 30 million, but the actual number could be significantly lower or higher than this. Either way, biologists have long wondered why the richness of insect diversity in the Americas&#8217; tropical forests is exponentially higher than temperate forests. Three popular hypotheses have emerged&#8212;the theory of refugia, the marine incursion hypothesis, and the riverine barrier hypothesis. To test these theories a group of scientists, headed by Dr. Scott Solomon, studied three species of leaf-cutter ant species from the Amazon. This riverine barrier hypothesis states that the reason for the Amazon&#8217;s unparalleled biodiversity is due to many species inability to traverse the numerous Amazonian rivers, thereby creating genetic barriers. However, the study found that the riverine barrier hypothesis did not hold up when applied to leaf-cutter ants. LEad-cutter ant &#8220;It is interesting that Amazonian rivers acts as barriers to some birds, but these ants are apparently able to cross them,&#8221; says Solomon. It is assumed that winged leaf-cutter ants take to the air over the rivers. Leaf-cutter ants are known to be able to fly at least 2 km and probably further While the riverine barrier hypothesis came up short, the marine incursion hypothesis and the theory of refugia&#8212;which is hotly debated among scientists&#8212;proved to be better descriptions of the ants&#8217; evolutionary past.&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2008/07/leaf-cutter-ants-test-theories-about-the-amazons-biodiversity/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
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										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-38165</doi>				</item>
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