The region of South Africa around the Cape of Good Hope has some of the highest biodiversity in the domain . precisely why that is has puzzled scientists … until now . It ’s actually all because ants are secret horticultural brainiac .
In another singular model of evolutionary mutualism , many plant life species in the Cape region have develop overweight structures on their seeds known as elaiosome . The elaiosome exists pretty much for one reason and one intellect only — to make the seed attractive to ants . And because the ants do n’t want to eat the tasty elaiosome in good order then nd there , they end up adopt the cum back home with them . This greatly expands the potential places these seeds can end up in the next multiplication .
It ’s a phenomenon get laid as myrmecochory — not the catchiest of names , I ’ll include — and it appears a huge part of the region ’s biodiversity can be decipher back to ant dribble away seeds . Even better , ant dirt plays a highly crucial role in this operation , as Professor Jonathan Majer of Australia ’s Curtin University explained to the BBC :
“ Ants pick up the cum often by grab the elaiosome , take it back to their nest and provender on it . They often toss out the stay on seed , which is not killed , either in the nest or in the soil around the nest … and this dispersal is have a go at it as myrmecochory . Sometimes the ant nest is richer in nutrient because of fecal stuff and waste so it may end up in a nutritive enrich sphere , which is better for the appendage of germination . Ants spread seeds over short dispersal distances [ causing ] low gene menstruum . Because the genes do n’t run you ’re potential to get high speciation . Secondly because the seed has been inhume , put into a microsite in the flat coat , it has a high population seaworthiness and a humble quenching pace . ”
For more , check outBBC News . Image by La Chiquita onFlickr .
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