These interactions can take place between individuals of the same species—like your interactions with your friends and family—or with different species, like your interactions with animals and plants. But some organisms interact more than others. Ants are some of the most interactive organisms in the world, and a single ant can have thousands of interactions in a single day [ 1 ]. These are all examples of intraspecific interactions, meaning they involve individuals of the same species.
But an ant will also interact with different kinds of organisms too—with plants, other insects, fungi, humans, even bacteria! Interactions that take place between individuals belonging to two or more species are called interspecific interactions. Biologists are interested in how species interact with each other, because these interactions can influence the way that species live and change over time, and because these interactions can affect the ecosystems in which they occur [ 2 ].
There are many different species interactions in nature, so biologists classify them according to how many species are involved for example, intraspecific or interspecific interactions , and whether the interaction has positive, negative, or neutral consequences for the interacting organisms.
This article will use ants as examples to demonstrate the major types of species interactions that occur all around us, every day, everywhere in the world. Many interactions between species have winners and losers: one individual benefits, and the other one suffers. These are called negative species interactions. For example, predation is a type of species interaction in which one organism a predator eats another organism the prey —this is good for the predator but very bad for the prey!
Different ant species can eat many different things, and some ants are important predators. Predatory ants often eat other insects like termites and caterpillars, while other ants eat only plants or fungus.
Megaponera ants have only one food—termites—and these ants organize huge hunts in which worker ants infiltrate termite colonies, capture as many termites as they can carry, and bring the termites back to the ant nest to feed to their larvae [ 3 ] Figure 2. But even though many ants are predators, they can also be prey for other animals. Lots of animals like to eat ants: birds, ant eaters, even humans in some parts of the world!
An animal that eats ants is called a myrmecophagous animal. The authors of this paper have eaten ant larvae that were specially prepared, and we can confirm that they are both delicious and nutritious. Another type of negative interaction is called parasitism. Just like predation, parasitism has winners and losers, but the losers typically survive the interaction.
Parasitism occurs when an organism steals a resource from another organism. For example, some ant species called slave-making ants parasitize neighboring ant colonies by stealing their larvae. The slave-making ants raise the stolen young ants to work in their colony. Many other organisms parasitize ant colonies, including some very special butterflies! These butterflies trick ants into thinking that the butterfly caterpillar is an ant larva, so that ants will bring the caterpillar into the ant nest and feed the caterpillar as if it were an ant.
This site uses cookies and by continuing to browse it you are agreeing to our use of cookies. Read our cookies policy. Ants are social insects, which means they live in a group, or colony. Colonies live inside nests that can be built in trees, underground, or even inside special ant plants. Ant colonies are highly organized, usually ruled by a single queen, and each ant has specific jobs to do.
Most ants in a colony are female workers. Worker ants build and repair the nest, forage for food, look after the larvae young , and keep the nest clean. Some worker ants defend the colony by biting, stinging, or spraying acid at attackers, and they are known as soldier ants. The only job of the winged male ant is to mate with the queen, and he dies soon after mating. Outdoors, they typically nest underground in anthills or inside trees.
If they make their way inside, nests can be found inside the walls and voids of a house or building, behind baseboards, moldings, and countertops. Like any other living creature, they have basic needs. When thinking about where ants live, you should think about why they are there and what they are attracted to.
They will seek places with food, water, and shelter. Many ant colonies exist outside, but the worker ants will forage for food in the surrounding areas. Most of them leave pheromone trails that may be followed by others to help locate food sources from nest sites. This may be why you see a trail of them wandering across the kitchen counter, or near the bathroom sink — they will come into your home and take what they need, bringing it back to the nest for the rest of the colony.
There are a few types that are common household pests in the United States. Two, in particular, can cause problems for people. Ant Farms aside, there are many ways these critters can enter a home.
But, the most alarming fact about finding an ant in the house is that there is never just one. They are social insects so they live, work, and travel in large numbers. Like other household pests, they enter your home wherever they find a way.
Here are a few examples:.
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