In myrmecology and forest ecology, a devil's garden is a large stand of trees almost exclusively of a single species, duroia hirsuta. Devil's gardens are immediately recognizable because the dominance of a single tree species is dramatically different from the biodiversity of the forest as a whole. Myrmecology is the branch of entomology dealing with ants. ... A dense growth of softwoods (a forest) in the Sierra Nevada Range of Northern California A forest (A.K.A. woods) is an area with a high density of trees (or, historically, a wooded area set aside for hunting). ... (Ecology is sometimes used incorrectly as a synonym for the natural environment. ... The coniferous Coast Redwood, the tallest tree species on earth A tree can be defined as a large, perennial, woody plant. ... Biodiversity or biological diversity is the diversity of and in living nature. ...

Writing in Nature, biologist Megen Frederickson of Stanford University and coworkers from the University of Colorado show that the ant Myrmelachista schumanni creates devil's gardens by systematically poisoning all plants in the vicinity except D. hirsuta, in which it nests. The ant poisons the plants by injecting formic acid into the base of the leaf. By killing these other plants, the ant creates many nest sites; a devil's garden may persist for 800 years. Nature is one of the oldest and most reputable general-purpose scientific journals, first published on November 4, 1869. ... Main articles: Life All organisms (viruses not included) consist of cells, which in turn, are based on a common carbon-based biochemistry. ... For other meanings of Stanford, see Stanford (disambiguation). ... The University of Colorado (CU) System consists of five campuses: University of Colorado at Boulder University of Colorado at Colorado Springs University of Colorado at Denver University of Colorado Health Sciences Center Fitzsimons campus of the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center, scheduled to open in 2007 in Aurora, Colorado... Subfamilies Dorylomorph subfamilies: Aenictinae Aenictogitoninae Apomyrminae Cerapachyinae Dorylinae Ecitoninae Formicomorph subfamilies: Aneuretinae Dolichoderinae Formicinae - e. ... Myrmelachista schumanni, also the lemon ant, is a species of ant that is notable for the creation of Devils gardens. ... Injection has multiple meanings: In mathematics, the term injection refers to an injective function. ... Formic acid (systematically called methanoic acid) is the simplest carboxylic acid. ... In botany, a leaf is an above-ground plant organ specialized for photosynthesis. ...

Frederickson points out that this symbiosis is an example of niche construction. Common Clownfish (Amphiprion ocellaris) in their magnificent sea anemone (Heteractis magnifica) home. ... Niche construction is the process in which an organism alters its own environment in order to increase its chance of survival. ...

Reference

Nature 437, 495-496 (22 September 2005) | doi: 10.1038/437495a