Cultivation of fungus for food originated about 45-65 million years ago in the ancestor of
fungus-growing ants (Formicidae, tribe Attini), representing an evolutionary transition from …

Feeding on living or dead plant material is widespread in insects. Seminal work on termites
and aphids has provided profound insights into the critical nutritional role that microbes play …

Ants are probably the most dominant insect group on Earth, representing ten to fifteen
percent of animal biomass in terrestrial ecosystems. Flowering plants, meanwhile, owe their …

Plant-animal interactions have become a focus of ecological research, with the processes of
herbivory being of special interest. This volume examines the interactions of leaf-cutting ants …

Ants are a dominant faunal group in tropical forests, but their responses to human
disturbances remain poorly investigated. Here we examine the relative effects of habitat …

Leaf-cutting ants, being the principal herbivores and ecosystem engineers in the Neotropics,
have been considered to be a keystone species in natural ecosystems and agroecosystems …

An ever-increasing proportion of the global forested landscape is in close proximity to edges
and edge effects have been shown to represent key forces affecting both organisms and …

Ants of the tribe Attini comprise a monophyletic group of approximately 230 described and
many more undescribed species that obligately depend on the cultivation of fungus for food …

Edge‐mediated changes in species composition are known to result in modified species
interactions. Because of the crucial trophic position of herbivores and their far‐reaching …

A substantial portion of the crop of fruiting trees falls beneath parent plants as a result of
dispersal failure. Such diaspores are considered as waste because the likelihood of plant …