Associate Professor of Bacteriology,
University of Wisconsin–Madison
In dark gardens underground, leaf-cutter ants grow a fungus for food. The ants groom their crop and protect it from pests as carefully as any farmer. The partnership has lasted more than 50 million years. Cameron Currie discovered that this system involves four coevolved organisms: the ant, the fungus, helpful bacteria, and a parasitic mold that attacks the garden. In the museum exhibit, visitors take a video tour of an ant fungus garden and investigate an evolutionary “arms race” taking place in a Petri dish.
Explore Dr. Currie's web page.

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This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation
under Grant No. 0229294. Any opinions, findings and conclusions or recommendations
expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect
the views of the National Science Foundation (NSF).

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