Skip to main content

The Amazon Rainforest series-part 4: The diligent population checker: The killer fungus

Image
By
Hi everyone,

Today we have a very special post for you. This is our very first guest blogging post. Casandra Chikanele has written an amazing post about the Amazon rainforest. This post is therefore the 4th part in the Amazon rainforest series. Enjoy!
Your Green World Team💚



The Amazon rainforest is a diverse and wildlife intense site. Home to thousands of species of animals, insects, reptiles, and all living forms including plants and microbial entities. 1/3 of all species live in this cradle of life. About 2.5 million species of ants, one thousand three hundred species of birds, four hundred and thirty species of mammals, and many more.
This environment houses quite a numerous amount of living things, predators and prey, families, and bachelors. A place with such a diverse ecosystem, where new offspring is constantly brought forth. Some species reproduce in little numbers, while others reproduce in hundreds or thousands every few weeks. It is easy to think the forest can become overpopulated just like the human section.


The reproductive cycle of all animals differs, most animals give birth in small numbers and less frequently than some. The insect world is more generous in its reproduction, with them laying hundreds of eggs at a time, especially with ants where there are about 8 million ants per hectare in the Amazon rainforest. These insects invade every avenue of the forest from the tree tops to the forest floor and even underground.

In their numerous sizes, they work hard to keep their already mighty colony and precious monarch safe. In their large numbers, they search for food, stripping an entire section of a tress half bare if not the entirety by the time they are done. Ants consume more vegetation than any other creature in the forest. And protecting whatever they claim as theirs with all force. As it has been recorded that ants attack way larger insects in large numbers by overwhelming and even killing them.

The insects are the most successful kingdom in the Amazon rainforest, with their numbers booming, it is quite easy to think they can take over the forest, swarming all over, getting an upper hand in the ecosystem, and threatening other species.


But why hasn’t this happened.?

So typical of nature to have everything in check. Nature has numerous techniques and technologies put in place to ensure orderliness and balance, trees, forests, mangroves, moorlands, oceans, and clouds. All these are more than just beautiful landscapes. They are in fact nature's technology to ensure the balance is kept; their beauty is just a physical image, and they are much more than that. This is why the chaos of climate change is happening due to humans' involvement in tampering with nature's technology.

As nature has it, no one species can have an upper hand in the forest, not even these fast-growing, hardworking insect colonies. The more numerous the insects are, the larger the colonies grow, and the more likely they will cease to exist. This is made possible by an insect infecting parasitic fungi called cordyceps.


Now generally ants are familiar with fungi, they in fact fetch leaves that they use to cultivate their fungi farm, which they feed to their larvae; they also have antibiotic saliva that they use to keep their farm infection free.
The ants who are social animals have put in place social immunity, which is a set of procedures they use to prevent any disease from the colony. They groom each other with their antibiotic saliva, any individuals that show signs of illness are taken far away from the colony and sometimes killed to avoid infecting others, and dead ants are removed immediately before any damage ensues. Even in their little fungi farm, the ants that tend to the fungi, after cleaning up the farm and removing garbage do not come in contact with the queen or the fungus to avoid any infection harming the colony. This strict social immunity is what keeps the ants' infection free.

But the cordyceps manipulates its way around this ant’s security. How?

The cordyceps is a parasitic fungus that infects insects. It infects them, takes control of their body and mind, and manipulates them. And before the ant dies, the fungi manipulate the infected ant to climb high up a tree, about 25 centimeters above the ground and then cause the ant to grip tightly using its mandible against a stem, this is known as the death grip. And a couple of hours later the ant dies.

But how does this favor the cordyceps fungus?

The fungus causes the ants to go 25cm above the ground when the sun is highest and they grip the underside of the leaf. This height and time provide the optimal temperature and humidity for the fungus to erupt and disperse. Gripping the underside of the leaf will protect the fungi from rain and UV rays; until when night time comes and the spores can disperse when the temperature is cooler.

Why do the fungi not just manipulate the ant to move into the colony and die there and easily disperse its spores?

Well, any ant found sick, misbehaving, or infected will be killed or/and taken far away from the colony where it cannot infect others,


so causing the ant to move out on its own, will better its chances of infecting the colony. The ant moves away from the colony but not too far, just a few meters so that the colony is still within reach, and at a height that can increase far dispersion. So that when the spores are finally released, they can reach the colony and attach to a new host.
And for some other insects, it causes them to become more energetic and to find a mate quickly to ensure dispersion.

This fungus is believed to have been around for thousands of years and to have adapted to conditions and even changed its prey over time. In tropical forests where they are few leaves to grip on, the fungi have been observed to cause their victims to grip on twigs and bark.
The presence of these fungi ensures that no one species dominates, as it infects largely populated colonies of ants, beetles, praying mantis, grasshoppers, and other insects. The balance of the ecosystem is restored.


The Amazon has numerous activities and secrets that unfold within it. And new species are found as the sun spotlights them every setting day.


Casandra Chikanele is a freelance writer whose niche is wildlife and the environment. She is also passionate about nature. For more info, click here.


Sources:


Images:
Collage: This image, owned by Robyn Jay (on flickr.com), is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 2.0.
A large gathering of ants: This image, owned by Ingrid V Taylar (on flickr.com), is licensed under CC BY-NC 2.0
Ant infected by cordyceps fungus: This image, owned by Bernard DUPONT (on flickr.com), is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 2.0
Ants fighting: This image, owned by Matt Francey (on flickr.com), is licensed under CC BY-NC 2.0.
Sunlight on water: This image is owned by Arnie Chou on pexels.com.
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Animals 26-30 in our '50 incredible animals' series

By
Hello, Welcome back. We're very sorry for missing last week's animals. We've all had a busy time with school work! 26. Blue glaucus Also known as the blue dragon, the blue glaucus is a type of sea slug. They are small, rarely growing longer than 3cm long. Their favourite food is probably the most bizarre thing about them, Portuguese man o' war. Now, for those of you who don't already know, the Portuguese man o' war is one of the most dangerous jellyfish in the world! Different sites have different opinions, but almost all agree that blue glaucus do not hunt the Portuguese man o' war, instead they feed on dead ones or nibble away at living one! But that's still rather impressive. 27. Shoebill Shoebills are very patient and able to stay still for hours. That's how they hunt. When a lungfish comes up for air, they often don't notice the shoebill standing there until it's too late. Shoebill...
Post a Comment
Read more

The life of ... an alcon blue butterfly

By
Hi everyone, Today we are going to be looking into the life of an alcon blue butterfly (Phengaris alcon). After mating, the females lay their eggs on marsh gentian, a blue-coloured wildflower. The eggs can only be laid on these flowers, as this is what the newly hatched caterpillars will eat. Although in some alp regions, they can also be found on willow gentians, a close relative of the marsh gentian. Once the caterpillars have hatched from the eggs, their main predator and danger are the ants that swarm below. But high on their plant homes, the caterpillars are safe. However, this isn't where the alcon blue caterpillars are going to stay forever. Eventually, they drop down to the ground using silk strings. With no protection, they are soon dragged off by the ants. The most amazing part is, the alcon blue caterpillars give off the same scent and chemicals as the ant larvae. So the ants take the caterpillars back to their brood chamber, wher...
Post a Comment
Read more

August 2021 Factfile - some news, animals and a plant

By
Welcome to our August factfile, News Bad news :( Fires in and around Athens Athens has been under siege this month, but not by any army. The forests all around the capital and in other parts of Greece and Turkey have gone up in flames. Houses have been destroyed and thousands have been evacuated. The reason is, of course, climate change . “It’s been crazy over here. Between the extreme heat and the wildfires, it feels apocalyptic,” Eleni Myrivili wrote in an email on Thursday as the army was deployed to assist firefighters. “Ash is raining down on us here in Athens.” England's lake district in peril Lake District, a popular holiday resort in the north of England, is now eroding faster as a result of climate change and an increased amount of walkers due to the pandemic. Paths that were once two meters wide are now at least 12 meters wide on some walks. Also visitors tend to walk off the path, endangering local wildlife. With...
Post a Comment
Read more

January 2021 Factfile - a bit of news from the past month and more!

By
Hi Everyone! Welcome to the first monthly fact file! We are going to share a news article from last month as well as animals and more! News You might have heard that the UK has authorised the use of a pesticide harmful to bees. It has been authorised for use on sugar beet with their excuse being to do with the virus yellows disease. But bees are in serious decline and this is not going to help. It is authorised for emergency use and only in specific conditions but, in our eyes, that doesn't make it okay. Farmers need bees to pollinate crops and now they are killing them with a horrible pesticide. What do you think? We would love your opinions below! For more information on bees in our honey bee post click  here . We have also found an article about some Indonesian monkeys from the island of Bali who steal anything expensive, that tourists have because they know they will get a reward! They know which items have the most value and wi...
Post a Comment
Read more

January Top Tips // 5 ways you can individually tackle climate change

By
Hi Everyone! This is the first of our new monthly posts for 2022! We will be sharing top tips every month, near the beginning, for things you can do during that month for the better. It's almost like a whole year of new year's resolutions (though let's hope they are achieved)! In these posts, we aren't just going to talk about climate change , of course, there will also be posts about animals , plants, habitats, plastic pollution and so much more! They will not be huge tips though, they won't demand too much of you (usually!). We need rebellions and people in the public eye spreading the word of course but we also need people like you, who can just do their bit. So, welcome to our top tips posts! We all know that we need to come together to fight the climate crisis, but we don't seem to be doing that right now. So here are our top tips for ways you can individually tackle climate change, even if this means simply spreading ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Animals 31-35 in our '50 incredible animals' series

By
Hi Everyone! Welcome back to our blog, today we are sharing another 5 incredible animals. This is part of a series to celebrate our 50th blog post, all about unusual animals! Enjoy! 31. Pangolins These creatures are often mistaken for reptiles but they are in fact mammals. They are covered in scales and use them to defend themselves because similar to a hedgehog, they curl up into a ball. They eat ants, termites and larvae. They eat using their tongue, which is very long- sometimes even longer than their body! Sadly, Pangolins are in high demand as their meat is considered a delicacy their scales are used in traditional folk remedies, which means that there is an illegal trade. Luckily, there have been many initiatives put in place to help these animals by WWF and similar organisations. 32. Macropinna Microstoma This is a species of fish that live at about 600m below sea level. They hang nearly motionless in the water and have a very unusual...
Post a Comment
Read more

Maldives - the direct impacts of climate change

By
Welcome back, Today we’re looking at the direct impacts of the climate crisis . The main reason why people don’t believe in climate change is that they can’t see it with their own eyes. So, we’re going to have a look at the Maldives where the effects of climate change become more obvious with every passing year. Maldives The full name of the Maldives is The Republic of the Maldives. It is an independent country made up of about 1 200 islands in the North Indian Ocean. The northernmost island is situated 370 miles away from the mainland (India). The islands are actually the tips of an ancient volcanic mountain range that is now almost completely submerged. In fact, the highest point is 1.8m-2.4m above sea level with the average elevation being 1m above sea level. The islands have a large tourism industry, due to the stunning nature found on and around the islands. 500 000 - 1 500 000 tourists visit the islands each year. This is mainly 'nature to...
Post a Comment
Read more

Palm Oil

By
Hi everyone, Today we would like to share with you some information about palm oil.  With all the focus on climate change and plastic pollution, not many people are acting against the use of palm oil.  Workers First of all, the managers promise that the workers will have good money, but when they arrive, their passports are taken from them, therefore, meaning they are trapped. Soon they find out that they aren't paid as well as promised. They have to work long hours with no breaks, maternity leave or sick days. Some people have to spray pesticides with leaking cans and no safety gear, meaning they become ill but are still forced to work. Deforestation Many animals are losing their home because the trees are chopped down to make room for the palm trees. they are now facing extinction. Also, trees helped to slow down climate change, but without them, climate change speeds up. So this is a big problem. Help your planet! Image:...
Post a Comment
Read more

Discussion || Should Everyone Switch To Electric Cars?

By
Hi Everyone! Thank you so much for joining me today, as I hop on the blog to discuss whether everyone switching to electric cars would really help the environment. In other words, should everyone switch to electric cars? This is the first part of a two-part series, discussing electric cars, so stay tuned for part two!! I would like to start this post by stating that I am by no means an expert. This is knowledge I have from my own experience, and from research I have done. If anything is incorrect please take it as it is and accept that this is a discussion and I am taking on board all opinions from reliable sources on this complex topic. Electric cars are a huge topic when it comes to sustainability and "saving our planet". There is no debating the fact that electric cars are better for the environment than diesel or petrol once they are on the road. But the production of them is often very polluting, with one study show...
2 comments
Read more

Pollination

By
Hello everyone, Today we're talking about pollination and its importance in the world's ecosystems.  First a bit of basic plant biology. To reproduce most plants do have a differentiation into male and female, but not in the same way that we see in mammals. Both male and female reproductive organs can be found on the same plant, although not in the same place. Male gametes are produced in the stamens and are then found in pollen. On the other hand, female reproductive organs are called pistils and egg cells are found in the ovule (normally in the flower heads). Pollination describes the process of transporting the pollen to the egg cells, making it an essential part of the reproduction of plants. Nearly all seed plants worldwide require pollination to reproduce. Cone bearing trees also need pollination.  Pollination is almost always assisted by other organisms such as insects, birds and mammals to transport the pollen. In some species wind ...
1 comment
Read more