myrmecology Myrmecology (; from Greek: μύρμηξ, ''myrmex'', "ant" and λόγος, ''logos'', "study") is a branch of entomology focusing on the scientific study of ants. Some early myrmecologists considered ant society as the ideal form of society and ...

and

forest A forest is an area of land dominated by trees. Hundreds of definitions of forest are used throughout the world, incorporating factors such as tree density, tree height, land use, legal standing, and ecological function. The United Nations' ...

ecology Ecology () is the study of the relationships between living organisms, including humans, and their physical environment. Ecology considers organisms at the individual, population, community, ecosystem, and biosphere level. Ecology overlaps wi ...

, a devil's garden (

Kichwa Kichwa (, , also Spanish ) is a Quechuan language that includes all Quechua varieties of Ecuador and Colombia (''Inga''), as well as extensions into Peru. It has an estimated half million speakers. The most widely spoken dialects are Chimborazo ...

: ''Supay chakra''Frederickson, M. E., & Gordon, D. (2007). The devil to pay: the cost of mutualism with ''

Myrmelachista schumanni ''Myrmelachista schumanni'', also known as the lemon ant, is a species of ant from South America. It is notable for the creation of Devil's garden. Using its own herbicide they kill off all the plants in an area except for the myrmecophytes, o ...

'' ants in 'devil's gardens' is increased herbivory on ''Duroia hirsuta'' trees. ''Proc. R. Soc. B''. 274 (1613): 1117-23.David P. Edwards, Megan E. Frederickson, Glenn H. Shepard, and Douglas W. Yu (2009):
A Plant Needs Ants like a Dog Needs Fleas: Myrmelachista schumanni Ants Gall Many Tree Species to Create Housing.
'' The American Naturalist 174, no. 5: pp. 734-740.) is a large stand of trees in the

Amazon rainforest The Amazon rainforest, Amazon jungle or ; es, Selva amazónica, , or usually ; french: Forêt amazonienne; nl, Amazoneregenwoud. In English, the names are sometimes capitalized further, as Amazon Rainforest, Amazon Forest, or Amazon Jungle. ...

consisting of at most three tree species and the ant ''

''. Devil's gardens can reach up to sizes of 600 trees and are inhabited by a single ant colony, containing up to 3 million workers and 15,000 queens.Frederickson, M. E., Greene, M. J., & Gordon, D. (2005). Ecology: 'Devil's gardens' bedevilled by ants. ''

Nature Nature, in the broadest sense, is the physics, physical world or universe. "Nature" can refer to the phenomenon, phenomena of the physical world, and also to life in general. The study of nature is a large, if not the only, part of science. ...

'' 437: 495-6. In a 2002 to 2004 census of the Amazon, devil's gardens were shown to have grown by 0.7 % per year. The relationship between tree and ant may persist for more than 800 years. A devil's garden is considered an example of mutualism, a type of

symbiotic Symbiosis (from Greek , , "living together", from , , "together", and , bíōsis, "living") is any type of a close and long-term biological interaction between two different biological organisms, be it mutualistic, commensalistic, or parasit ...

relationship between species.

Background

Devil's gardens were named because locals believed that an evil forest spirit

Chullachaki The Chullachaki (Quechua, "one-footed", from ''chulla'' or ''ch'ulla'' = single, odd, unpaired, asymmetric, ''chaki'' = foot; spelling sometimes also used in Spanish)Gustavo Rodríguez. ''El chullachaki en la otra selva.'' Lima: QG editores, 2011 ...

(meaning "uneven foot, single foot" in Kichwa) or Chuyathaqi lived in them.Pablo Amaringo: Ayahuasca Visions
- "a vision of the Supay-chacra or garden of the Chullachaki."BBC News
Devilish ants control the garden
21 September 2005. Retrieved August 12, 2006.

Types

Inhabited by the ant ''

,'' devil's gardens, in different regions of the Amazon, can be dominated by different tree species. In southeastern Peru, devil's gardens are dominated by ''

Cordia ''Cordia'' is a genus of flowering plants in the borage family, Boraginaceae. It contains about 300 species of shrubs and trees, that are found worldwide, mostly in warmer regions. Many of the species are commonly called manjack, while ''bocote' ...

nodosa'' (

Boraginaceae Boraginaceae, the borage or forget-me-not family, includes about 2,000 species of shrubs, trees and herbs in 146, to 156 genera with a worldwide distribution. The APG IV system from 2016 classifies the Boraginaceae as single family of the order ...

) and occasionally mixed with ''

Tococa ''Tococa'' is a genus of flowering plants belonging to the family Melastomataceae Melastomataceae is a family of dicotyledonous flowering plants found mostly in the tropics (two-thirds of the genera are from the New World tropics) comprising ...

occidentalis'' (

Melastomataceae Melastomataceae is a family of dicotyledonous flowering plants found mostly in the tropics (two-thirds of the genera are from the New World tropics) comprising c. 175 genera and c. 5115 known species. Melastomes are annual or perennial herbs, sh ...

). At higher elevations, the tree species ''

Tapirira guianensis ''Tapirira guianensis'' is a species of plant in the family Anacardiaceae. It is native to Cerrado and Atlantic Forest (ecoregions) vegetation in Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), i ...

'' (

Anacardiaceae The Anacardiaceae, commonly known as the cashew family or sumac family, are a family of flowering plants, including about 83 genera with about 860 known species. Members of the Anacardiaceae bear fruits that are drupes and in some cases produce ...

) can be found dominating gardens. In southeastern Ecuador and northeastern Peru the most common tree species found in devil's gardens are ''

Duroia hirsuta ''Duroia hirsuta'' is a myrmecophyte tree species from the Amazon Forest. It is one of some 37 species of ''Duroia,'' which are shrubs or canopy trees in the family Rubiaceae, favouring ants (myrmecophilous), and occurring in Central America as f ...

'' (

Rubiaceae The Rubiaceae are a family of flowering plants, commonly known as the coffee, madder, or bedstraw family. It consists of terrestrial trees, shrubs, lianas, or herbs that are recognizable by simple, opposite leaves with interpetiolar stipules ...

Symbiosis

The mutualistic

symbiosis Symbiosis (from Greek , , "living together", from , , "together", and , bíōsis, "living") is any type of a close and long-term biological interaction between two different biological organisms, be it mutualistic, commensalistic, or parasit ...

between the ant ''

'' and the tree ''

'' begins when an ant queen colonizes an isolated tree. The ants make nesting sites in the hollow stems and leaves of the tree, called

domatia A domatium (plural: domatia, from the Latin "domus", meaning home) is a tiny chamber that houses arthropods, produced by a plant. Ideally domatia differ from galls in that they are produced by the plant rather than being induced by their inhabi ...

. The ants eliminate competition for the tree by poisoning all plants, except the host tree, with

formic acid Formic acid (), systematically named methanoic acid, is the simplest carboxylic acid, and has the chemical formula HCOOH and structure . It is an important intermediate in chemical synthesis and occurs naturally, most notably in some ants. Es ...

. Because other plants are killed off, ''D. hirsuta'' saplings are able to grow and the ant colony is able to expand. The tree provides shelter (hollow stems and domatia) and food (leaves) for the ants, and the ants provide a suitable environment for the trees to grow by eliminating competing plants. Although the ants fend off

herbivore A herbivore is an animal anatomically and physiologically adapted to eating plant material, for example foliage or marine algae, for the main component of its diet. As a result of their plant diet, herbivorous animals typically have mouthpart ...

s, the size of the garden is restricted by leaf destruction increasing as it expands, as the ants are unable to defend the trees beyond a certain point.

References

{{reflist Myrmecology Forest ecology Symbiosis Indigenous culture of the Amazon