how do ants adapt to the rainforest?
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Leaf-cutter ant. With their scissor-like jaws, leaf-cutter ants carve out crescent-shaped pieces of leaves, which they then carry back to their underground nests. ... Many tropical plants have evolved such poisonous or distasteful chemicals as an adaptation to protect themselves from leaf-eating organisms.
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Beneficial Effects of Fire Ants. Collectively, ants are beneficial insects in our environment. Their nest-building activities reduce soil compaction and help aerate the soil. Many ant species, such as imported fire ants, are omnivorous (they eat just about anything).
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Killing Adaptations Army ants are well-equipped for killing prey -- this, along with the large numbers in which they swarm, accounts for their ability to devour creatures much larger than themselves. They have distinctly large mandibles and stingers, which they use to overwhelm their prey when they swarm.
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Ecological Importance. Ants play an important role in the environment. Ants turn and aerate the soil, allowing water and oxygen to reach plant roots. ... These seeds often sprout and grow new plants (seed dispersal). Ants eat a wide variety of organic material and provide food for many different organisms.
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Ants are common in places where people live. ... Most tropical and subtropical areas also have one or a number of invasive ants, i.e., species of ants that are notable for their ability to become human pests.
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The carpenter ant searches for indoor nesting areas that have moisture damage. Unlike termites, carpenter ants don't eat wood. However, they do chew to excavate wood for nests.
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Ants are insects, which are part of the animal kingdom.
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Ants are masters of overwintering, or waiting out the winter season. When cold air arrives, ants' body temperatures drop dramatically and their movements become sluggish. ... As winter passes, ants enter a dormant stage in which they lay low, feeding off the fats, carbohydrates and proteins they stored the previous fall.
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The army will attack other ant colonies and wasp nests. Vertebrates with any speed are usually able to escape these arthropod predators, but when given the opportunity the ants will pursue frogs, lizards and snakes. The workers of these colonies are the smallest, with a body length of approximately 3 mm.
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Ants attack and defend themselves by biting and, in many species, by stinging, often injecting or spraying chemicals, such as formic acid in the case of formicine ants, alkaloids and piperidines in fire ants, and a variety of protein components in other ants.
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Are ants attracted to water? Like all animals, ants need water to live, but they are not dependent on larger puddles of water like other insects may be. Many ants get water from the food that they consume.
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Ant colonies also have soldier ants that protect the queen, defend the colony, gather or kill food, and attack enemy colonies in search for food and nesting space. If they defeat another ant colony, they take away eggs of the defeated ant colony. When the eggs hatch, the new ants become the "slave" ants for the colony.
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Ants play an important role in the environment. Ants turn and aerate the soil, allowing water and oxygen to reach plant roots. Ants take seeds down into their tunnel to eat the nutritious elaiosomes that are part of the seed. These seeds often sprout and grow new plants (seed dispersal).
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Now, are ants 'clean'? The surface of ants tends to be far less greasy than that of some kinds of cockroaches. Hence, they may accumulate fewer bits of debris as they wander about.
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The ants move during the day, capturing insects, spiders, and small vertebrates to feed their brood. At dusk, they will form their nests or bivouac, which they change almost daily. ... Among the army ants are some species that venture out only at night, but no adequate studies of their activities have been made.
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Ants are one of the most abundant animals on Earth! The ants' vast and varied contributions to our ecosystems are important. Ants are complex insects that live in large social groups called colonies. As insects, ants have a hard outer body called an exoskeleton and three body parts: head, thorax, and abdomen.
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Ant species range from being strictly diurnal, crepuscular, and nocturnal. In addition, a number of species have the ability to change from a day- to a night-active lifestyle owing to environmental demands.