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The leaf-cutter ants cut small pieces of leaves from trees and then take them into their nests. The ants cannot digest the leaves. Instead, they chew up the leaves and grow a fungus on the mulched leaves. They ants eat the fruiting bodies on the fungus. The ants are farmers.
A competing fungus grows on the fungus the ants eat and threatens to destroy it. However, a species of bacteria that lives on the ants’ legs eats the competing fungus. The bacteria have no direct effect on the ants.
All four species need each other to survive. The ants need the fungus to eat. The fungus can only grow after the ants have prepared the bed. The competing fungus needs the host fungus to survive and the bacteria need the “weed” fungus to survive.
All four species also prevent any one species from taking over. The system only works when all four are in balance.
To presume that this system of interlocking components “evolved” and was not specifically created by God would seem to require more faith in evolution than a divine creator.
Posted by Ted at March 23, 2004 8:31 PM