Month: September 2022

MINDSET DIFFERENCES. "Molecular biologists and physicists tend to ask different questions when presented with the same biological system. For example, when considering a network of interacting proteins, a biologist may first ask about the chain of events that occurs after one protein binds to another, whereas a physicist might want to know the rate constants of all the reactions." https://lnkd.in/eVFhtfq View in LinkedIn

QB SECTION END. This ends this large section on Quantum Biology. What is clear is that increasing phenomena in biology are ascribed to QB mechanisms, as our understanding deepens. This field is in its infancy, and practical applications are just starting to emerge with the confluence of nanoelectronics and biological molecules known to have QB mechanisms. https://lnkd.in/evm-KtE View in LinkedIn

FRAGMENT FROM NATURE for the next two weekends will focus on the topic of leafcutter (Attine) ant farming. These lovely creatures have some of the most elaborate symbiotic relationships known: they cultivate a fungus for food, cultivate a bacteria to give that crop antibiotic treatments, and cultivate nitrogen-fertilizing bacteria as fungal food. And they have been at this for over 50 million years. These are the ultimate sustainable organic farmers. View in LinkedIn

HUMAN AGRICULTURE (plant domestication) started about 11,500 years ago, whilst ants have been cultivating fungi, bacteria and aphids for ~50-60 million years. This is ~50,000 - 100,000 times longer than mankind. View in LinkedIn

GLOBAL TREASURE. "If a congress of naturalists were to gather to choose the seven wonders if the animal world, they would be compelled to include the bizarre and mighty civilizations of the attine leafcutters." (B. Hölldobler and EO Wilson). https://lnkd.in/eVFRvWm View in LinkedIn

VAST SUCCESS. "Ants are one of the most successful insects on earth, comprising up to 20% of all terrestrial animal biomass and at least 25% of the entire animal biomass in the New World Tropics." https://lnkd.in/eCSpjH7 View in LinkedIn

MAJOR HERBIVORES. "Fungus-farming (attine) ants are a clade of more than 240 described New World species that cultivate fungus gardens on which they obligately depend for food. The first fungus-farming ant evolved in South America from a hunter-gatherer ant ancestor ∼50–56 million years ago." 12 million years ago they became the major herbivores of the New World tropics. https://lnkd.in/et8V2SM View in LinkedIn

GIANT FARMS. Leafcutter ants' "nests' enormous sizes (up to 5000 gardens) and extended lifespans (10–20 years). Atta gardens are discrete units, with an average garden size of about 30×20×20 cm3...the hundreds of Atta gardens can be spaced across an underground volume exceeding 1000 cubic meters...A. texana and A. cephalotes are leafcutter ants with enormous colonies (more than 2 million workers)." https://lnkd.in/ew5j47P View in LinkedIn

LEAF MACHINE. Leafcutter ants' "fungus gardens can support millions of workers capable of harvesting over 400 kg of leaf material (dry weight) annually." (Equal to 1,200 kgs of fresh leaves/year/nest, the weight of a typical car). https://lnkd.in/eCSpjH7 View in LinkedIn

ANT BIOMASS. Leafcutter ants. "In the Amazon forest they comprise four times more biomass than do all land animals combined." https://lnkd.in/ehPTKsY View in LinkedIn