The disappearance of dinosaurs is a well-known consequence of the fall of a giant asteroid to Earth 66 million years ago. What is less known is that the phenomenal quantity of dust projected into the air, when this celestial body 10 kilometers in diameter struck our planet, darkened the sky for three years. Photosynthesis became almost impossible, temperatures dropped and many species became extinct. Another remarkable event also occurred. “In the shadow of the fifth mass extinction, ants invented agriculture”, reveals it Smithsonian Magazine.
More precisely, “in a world where plants struggled to grow and mushrooms proliferated,” ants began to cultivate mushrooms to ensure their survival. This is the conclusion, published in Science, from a genetic study carried out by entomologists on 276 species of ants, some of which are agricultural, and 475 species of fungi.
The researchers thus solved the riddle of the origin of this close relationship, which consisted of “in its most rudimentary form” to what “ants collect mushrooms, spread their spores and defend them [contre les maladies, la sécheresse…] in a relationship of mutual benefit”, describes the Smithsonian Magazine. Since in the end, caring insects feed on their protégés.
Gardens 27 million years ago
Different paleontological evidence had already shown an explosion of fungi around 66 million years ago, and it was imagined that the relationship with ants could have evolved at that time. But we had to wait for scientific confirmation thanks to the traces that this symbiotic relationship left in the genome of fungi.
Researchers have identified another key moment, around 27 million years ago: ants invented a “higher” form of agriculture. At that time, the climate cooled and became drier, “meadows have expanded to the detriment of humid forests”, reports the Smithsonian Magazine. To ensure optimal humidity for the growth of the mushrooms, the ants installed them in their nest and fed them, for example with pieces of leaves. As the American newspaper summarizes, “ants created their own gardens at a time when our ancestors still found their way through trees in search of fruit.”
[…] Read more on International Mail
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