• HOME
  • NEWS
  • EXPLORE
    • CAREER
      • Companies
      • Jobs
    • EVENTS
    • iGEM
      • News
      • Team
    • PHOTOS
    • VIDEO
    • WIKI
  • BLOG
  • COMMUNITY
    • FACEBOOK
    • INSTAGRAM
    • TWITTER
Tuesday, September 23, 2025
BIOENGINEER.ORG
No Result
View All Result
  • Login
  • HOME
  • NEWS
  • EXPLORE
    • CAREER
      • Companies
      • Jobs
        • Lecturer
        • PhD Studentship
        • Postdoc
        • Research Assistant
    • EVENTS
    • iGEM
      • News
      • Team
    • PHOTOS
    • VIDEO
    • WIKI
  • BLOG
  • COMMUNITY
    • FACEBOOK
    • INSTAGRAM
    • TWITTER
  • HOME
  • NEWS
  • EXPLORE
    • CAREER
      • Companies
      • Jobs
        • Lecturer
        • PhD Studentship
        • Postdoc
        • Research Assistant
    • EVENTS
    • iGEM
      • News
      • Team
    • PHOTOS
    • VIDEO
    • WIKI
  • BLOG
  • COMMUNITY
    • FACEBOOK
    • INSTAGRAM
    • TWITTER
No Result
View All Result
Bioengineer.org
No Result
View All Result
Home NEWS Science News Biology

Sweet bribes for ants are key to crops bearing fruit, study shows

Bioengineer by Bioengineer
June 23, 2017
in Biology
Reading Time: 2 mins read
0
Share on FacebookShare on TwitterShare on LinkedinShare on RedditShare on Telegram
IMAGE

Credit: Nora Villamil-Buenrostro

Flowering crops such as beans and cotton offer their sweetest nectar to recruit colonising ants in a strategy that balances their need for defence and to reproduce, research suggests.

So-called ant-plants carefully manage the amount and sweetness of nectar produced on their flowers and leaves, a study shows.

This enables them to attract ants — which aggressively deter herbivores — while also luring insects that will spread pollen.

The findings could inform the commercial farming of produce from ant-plants, which also include pumpkins, courgettes, passionfruit and acacia honey.

Researchers from the University of Edinburgh studied the nectar secreted by a plant from the passionfruit family during flower and fruit development.

They sought to understand how such plants produce nectar on their flowers, fruits and leaves, to feed ants and pollinators.

Scientists were surprised to find that the greatest volume of sweetest nectar was produced surrounding flowers, to attract ants.

This may ensure that flowers, with their valuable pollen and potential fruits, are well defended from herbivores, while encouraging ants to stay away from the open flowers themselves.

Researchers had expected high secretions of nectar at buds and fruits to lure ants, but not at flowers, in order to avoid conflicts between ants and pollinators. The study, published in Biotropica, was funded by the National Autonomous University of Mexico.

Nora Villamil-Buenrostro, of the University of Edinburgh's School of Biological Sciences, who led the study, said: "Offering sweet bribes in the form of nectar may be a strategy used by ant-plants to avoid conflict between ants and pollinators. This allows a trade-off in which plants are well defended by bodyguard ants, without these scaring away pollinators."

###

Media Contact

Catriona Kelly
[email protected]
44-779-135-5940
@edinunimedia

http://www.ed.ac.uk

Original Source

http://www.ed.ac.uk/news/2017/crops-sweet-bribes-for-ants-help-them-bear-fruit

############

Story Source: Materials provided by Scienmag

Share15Tweet7Share2ShareShareShare1

Related Posts

Unlocking Functional NLRs via Expression and Phenotyping

Unlocking Functional NLRs via Expression and Phenotyping

September 23, 2025
Beyond Reflexes: How the Spine Influences Sexual Behavior

Beyond Reflexes: How the Spine Influences Sexual Behavior

September 23, 2025

Gene Analysis Uncovers Metal Exposure in Synechococcus

September 22, 2025

Ultrasound Guidance Significantly Reduces IUD Insertion Time Compared to Conventional Methods

September 22, 2025
Please login to join discussion

POPULAR NEWS

  • Physicists Develop Visible Time Crystal for the First Time

    Physicists Develop Visible Time Crystal for the First Time

    69 shares
    Share 28 Tweet 17
  • Breakthrough in Computer Hardware Advances Solves Complex Optimization Challenges

    156 shares
    Share 62 Tweet 39
  • Tailored Gene-Editing Technology Emerges as a Promising Treatment for Fatal Pediatric Diseases

    50 shares
    Share 20 Tweet 13
  • Scientists Achieve Ambient-Temperature Light-Induced Heterolytic Hydrogen Dissociation

    49 shares
    Share 20 Tweet 12

About

We bring you the latest biotechnology news from best research centers and universities around the world. Check our website.

Follow us

Recent News

Innovative Safety Assessment Framework Developed for Liquid Hydrogen Storage in UAVs

Neurodevelopment in Preterm Infants: Catheter vs Surgery

Why Social Media Fails to Transform Academic Medicine

  • Contact Us

Bioengineer.org © Copyright 2023 All Rights Reserved.

Welcome Back!

Login to your account below

Forgotten Password?

Retrieve your password

Please enter your username or email address to reset your password.

Log In
No Result
View All Result
  • Homepages
    • Home Page 1
    • Home Page 2
  • News
  • National
  • Business
  • Health
  • Lifestyle
  • Science

Bioengineer.org © Copyright 2023 All Rights Reserved.