Post B06TFTO7Yv7Zarp65w by albertcardona@mathstodon.xyz
(DIR) More posts by albertcardona@mathstodon.xyz
(DIR) Post #B05gn9WB38Na3l1OAi by JeanieBurrell@mstdn.social
2025-11-08T10:34:26Z
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@datarama @futurebird This is fascinating. So they are in an exclusive symbiosis? In human crops, new cultivars have to be continuously developed to sustain viability and nutrition, while heirloom varieties do not have this vulnerability. Has this fungus evolved in result to its cultivation?
(DIR) Post #B05gnAl6R7uduL0p4i by futurebird@sauropods.win
2025-11-08T10:37:23Z
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@JeanieBurrell @datarama It absolutely has. In the higher attines the fungi helps maintain a level of humidity perfect for ant eggs and larvae. The young ants are embedded in it. They are born cradled in hyphae. The fungus produces nutrition rich bodies (not mushrooms, but more like underground nodes) with the protein and sugars the ants need most. The integration is likely deeper than that of humans and our crops.
(DIR) Post #B05gnBrAM4MBJQrBAG by futurebird@sauropods.win
2025-11-08T10:40:43Z
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@JeanieBurrell @datarama Sometimes I wish I could be cradled in hyphae. It sounds very nice.
(DIR) Post #B05mx2sVBthE5SZ2f2 by futurebird@sauropods.win
2025-11-07T19:42:41Z
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"Two Common Ponerine Ants of Possible Economic Significance”I know it’s probably a boring book about farms and pest control— but what if it wasn’t? What if it was a financial thriller about an ambitious pair of ants who take on Wall Street. (and only resort to stinging when all else fails) ?Maybe the world needs such a book.
(DIR) Post #B05mx3fmEh6yYHcOSu by darkling@mstdn.social
2025-11-07T19:49:40Z
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@futurebird "These ant species farm aphids to produce a higher-calorie product per hectare than any current domesticated farm species, and with a more balanced nutritional assay than any other known crop. Collection of the product is simple, and can be fully automated."... too much to hope for, really. :)
(DIR) Post #B05mxApbcY8IknGqG0 by futurebird@sauropods.win
2025-11-07T19:49:33Z
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When you love studying insects you come to loathe the phrase “economic significance” it’s always about “pest control”
(DIR) Post #B05oeojjEJKKvKtdSq by futurebird@sauropods.win
2025-11-08T10:43:57Z
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@cthon1c A farmer was fed up with the ants and wanted them gone. ("economic significance" strikes again, but I do have some sympathy for the poor farmers, these girls can strip a fruit tree overnight) This species isn't in any danger. The farmer was going to have the nest dug up and destroyed so the scientists stepped in and learned something from it. The thing about digging up the biggest ant nest is it allows the second and third biggest to take over... it's not that effective.
(DIR) Post #B05oepZq6Z0jWxHFgm by futurebird@sauropods.win
2025-11-08T10:44:36Z
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@cthon1c I don't know if this casting is the one with the farmer, but one I read about that was very similar was such a situation.
(DIR) Post #B05ogplqM8I8i5qacC by VulcanTourist@autistics.life
2025-11-08T11:08:29Z
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@futurebird Somebody's discovered an altered state of consciousness!
(DIR) Post #B05ozULGFfUtkhJCJU by futurebird@sauropods.win
2025-11-08T10:46:26Z
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@u0421793 @datarama @JeanieBurrell This is how the endless wheat fields see us, no doubt.
(DIR) Post #B05qalNBzdEfF4Y9Ls by JeanieBurrell@mstdn.social
2025-11-08T10:41:18Z
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@futurebird @datarama So these particular ants could not live without their fungi? The fungi has been subjected to selection, but have the ants?
(DIR) Post #B05qamTFuZgCeAOVRQ by futurebird@sauropods.win
2025-11-08T10:45:34Z
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@JeanieBurrell @datarama To what extent have corn and wheat shaped humanity?(consider our little teeth. )
(DIR) Post #B05qnfeCamBhFUf1vs by JeanieBurrell@mstdn.social
2025-11-08T09:06:05Z
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@futurebird This is the most entertaining thread I've read this morning. But I do have a question. In the attached photo is a reference to "fungus-growing ants." I wonder if any of those particular species affect mycorrhizal networks either positively or negatively?
(DIR) Post #B05qno1BTDKBD5TUrg by JeanieBurrell@mstdn.social
2025-11-08T12:37:26Z
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@futurebird I am so sorry my question has hijacked your thread. I have found out interesting things about ants!
(DIR) Post #B05rAvC2xWTe7kZuFM by futurebird@sauropods.win
2025-11-08T10:00:22Z
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@JeanieBurrell The ants grow a particular crop of fungi they have cultivated (and domesticated) for millions of years. Different species of ants have different crops. The way they excavate the soil and enrich it is probably important to many other organisms.(image via: https://www.researchgate.net/figure/Subterranean-portion-of-a-giant-leafcutter-ant-nest-in-Brazil-Concrete-was-poured-into_fig3_282628837)
(DIR) Post #B05t6aLSjJFUDN2gRE by futurebird@sauropods.win
2025-11-08T11:37:14Z
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@datarama @JeanieBurrell I use a lint roller to remove aphids.
(DIR) Post #B05uakksgqjx8ssfMO by futurebird@sauropods.win
2025-11-08T10:51:37Z
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@u0421793 @datarama @JeanieBurrell There are plants that control their ants. There are trees that get ants basically addicted to their nectar, to keep them around as body guards. I do think the relationship of the fungi and the attines is most like that of humans and our domestic crops. It's a kind of deep mutual dependency.
(DIR) Post #B05yyO9In3tznUpT2e by Tak@gush.taks.garden
2025-11-07T20:51:11.209+01:00
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@futurebird Ant of Wall Street
(DIR) Post #B05z0Mp0hDksGBHUzQ by JeanieBurrell@mstdn.social
2025-11-08T10:43:05Z
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@futurebird Hyphae are "branching filaments that make up the mycelium of a fungus." So a fuzzy little nest. It does sound nice!
(DIR) Post #B060OjCXF1pGZZSsym by JeanieBurrell@mstdn.social
2025-11-08T11:59:47Z
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@datarama @futurebird @u0421793 That would be the conversion of food security to power. And now we're back to warring over resources like attines.
(DIR) Post #B060OkXUGcBCiqH8HA by bouriquet@mastodon.social
2025-11-08T12:40:01Z
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@JeanieBurrell @datarama @futurebird @u0421793 And now consider Quorn, the fungus-derived fake meat protein substitute that is being sold in many places in the world. All from a particular fungus found in soil at a specific location, extracted, now cultivated in bioreactors. The company is now part of a large conglomerate of course.https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quorn
(DIR) Post #B063809ZGCOi5XnCvQ by whangdoodler@piipitin.fi
2025-11-08T10:02:58Z
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@futurebird @JeanieBurrell ANT-ROPOLIS.
(DIR) Post #B063JaHXH9OVKB2i1o by JeanieBurrell@mstdn.social
2025-11-08T10:59:17Z
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@futurebird @datarama The link you posted to ResearchGate has led me to "niche construction theory." Reading on!https://www.researchgate.net/publication/282628837_The_role_of_food_storage_in_human_niche_construction_An_example_from_Neolithic_Europe#pf3
(DIR) Post #B069LffYocUEKzesyG by lienrag@mastodon.tedomum.net
2025-11-07T20:03:19Z
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@futurebird Won't you write it ?
(DIR) Post #B069eXeGrQeGxo3NOi by AquaClaire@ecoevo.social
2025-11-08T15:02:39Z
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@futurebird I've learned so much from the conversation you've started here; thank you all correspondents!
(DIR) Post #B06Ab8s2czKRCZRAkS by futurebird@sauropods.win
2025-11-07T20:17:35Z
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@Tak Imagine the wealth and power of the first ants to discover how to do a colony merger!
(DIR) Post #B06AbA4UACsQvSGcme by Moss@beige.party
2025-11-07T20:22:24Z
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@futurebird @Tak Step aside, bull and bear!
(DIR) Post #B06AbAveyVPZaN95fM by futurebird@sauropods.win
2025-11-07T22:49:26Z
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@Moss @Tak I think we all know what their "hedge funds" will be like.
(DIR) Post #B06RYpVZLQ1Tn9PQwa by Cheeseness@mastodon.social
2025-11-08T02:51:27Z
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@futurebird I feel the same when I get excited about a lecture on local geology and then find it to be predominantly coming at things from a perspective of what's relevant to resource extraction.Can't we love rocks for the sake of loving rocks? Can't we learn about prehistory because prehistory is valued?
(DIR) Post #B06TFTO7Yv7Zarp65w by albertcardona@mathstodon.xyz
2025-11-07T20:00:44Z
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@futurebird Wait until there aren't any bees left, or flies to decompose leaves, and beetles to collect faeces...
(DIR) Post #B06Tm9eTxg1RwJ3lsO by katzenberger@tldr.nettime.org
2025-11-07T19:52:24Z
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@futurebird I'm a huge fan of pest control, but strangely, capitalists do not seem to like it a lot whenever I spray them. What am I doing wrong?
(DIR) Post #B06XcHHF9jwaVdjgPY by DaveMWilburn@infosec.exchange
2025-11-07T19:52:55Z
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@futurebird That's honestly one of the major factors in my decision to pursue tech instead of entomology. The only jobs of "economic significance" in entomology are generally geared towards their eradication.
(DIR) Post #B06ahG879HMAGHX5cm by futurebird@sauropods.win
2025-11-08T02:53:31Z
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@Cheeseness I don't resent any myrmecologists for doing some work to "get that bag" the bag in the world of insects is not very large. I am a little suspicious of geologists with country homes, however. How many oil wells and fracking maps DID you make exactly?
(DIR) Post #B06ahHogsT0XUcSbcu by rk@mastodon.well.com
2025-11-08T02:56:11Z
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@futurebird @Cheeseness I still wanna know what The Man With the Yellow Hat did to have a huge city apartment within walking distance of Central Park and also a country home with quite a bit of land. All I can think of his that his parents endowed the museum and now he gets to go on “adventures” with his parents’ money and pretend he’s a scientist.
(DIR) Post #B06ksKVKDxuKYVJ5qy by Moss@beige.party
2025-11-07T23:12:07Z
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@futurebird @Tak When you want to short stocks, no-one knows short better than them.
(DIR) Post #B06zLIsClXt1FlicOe by joelvanderwerf@mastodon.social
2025-11-07T22:36:40Z
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@futurebird Two households, both alike in dignity,Two common ponerine ants,From ancient grudge break to new mutiny,Of possible economic significance,