Puke, poop and tiny cockroaches: How the leafcutter ant queen runs her farm - Charles Wallace

譯者: 穎君 紀 審譯者: 麗玲 辛

In this south Texas clearing,

德州南部空地裡，

an ancient tale that ties the members of four species together is unfurling.

四種生物命運糾纏的古老傳說拉開序幕。

The first involved is our soon-to-be queen leafcutter ant.

第一位主角是 即將成為蟻后的切葉蟻，

The second is this fungus, a piece of which she scoops into her mouth pocket.

第二位是這一小塊菌類， 它被蟻后放進嘴裡。

The third are these tiny cockroaches, which nestle under her wings.

第三位是這群小蟑螂， 牠們躲在蟻后翅膀內側。

And the fourth is the one that threatens them all.

第四位主角則是 威脅前三位角色的大反派，

But it’ll reveal itself later.

牠之後才會出場。

In a flapping-wing frenzy, our ant takes to the sky.

一陣旋風颳起， 蟻后振翅飛向天際。

This is the only chance she’ll have to mate,

這是她唯一一次交配的機會，

so she stores as much sperm as she can from the males she meets in midair.

所以她在半空中遇見雄方後， 盡可能裝了許多精液。

After dropping to the ground, she sheds her wings and begins digging.

降落之後，她褪下雙翅， 開始挖掘地面。

She excavates a tunnel and a side chamber, then plugs the entrance,

挖好一條隧道和一個 側室後，她堵住入口，

sealing herself in.

把自己關進房間。

There, she regurgitates the fungus.

她在房裡反芻嘴裡的菌類，

This pile of puke will form the bedrock of her kingdom.

這坨嘔吐物將成為切葉蟻王國的基石。

Over the following weeks,

接下來幾週，

in between laying eggs and consuming the infertile ones,

沒在產卵或吃不育卵的空檔，

she tends to her developing fungal garden,

她細心照料真菌園，

fertilizing it with feces.

用排遺物來施肥。

Finally, her first offspring surge forth and establish a rhythm.

終於來到這天，她的第一批後代 破卵而出，聚成一群。

Soldiers guard the nest while foragers set off to find tender foliage.

兵蟻負責保衛家園， 工蟻踏上蒐集葉子的旅程。

The larger foragers, equipped with powerful mandibles,

這些大隻的工蟻有雙強而有力的顎，

anchor themselves on leaves and chomp away in a wide arcs.

牠們緊咬葉片，切割出大大的圓弧。

Holding these pieces aloft,

牠們把割下的葉片舉在頭上，

which can weigh more than eight times their body mass,

這些葉片可能比螞蟻自己重八倍以上。

the workers march back to the nest.

工蟻們回到巢裡，

Meanwhile, the colony’s smallest ants clean the leaf fragments

蟻群裡最小的螞蟻們正在清理 葉子碎片殘骸和病原體。

of debris and pathogens.

But the colony doesn’t eat these morsels.

螞蟻不吃這些少量的殘渣，

Instead, the ants use them to sustain their fungus,

因此拿去餵給菌堆吃，

which, in turn, sustains the colony.

這也反過來幫到蟻群。

More than 10 million years ago, leafcutter ants domesticated fungus.

切葉蟻早在超過一千萬年前 就學會大量培養菌類。

Like many of our crops, the fungus they farm

就像我們種植的作物，

他們培養的菌類從基因 就與野生的原種大不同，

is genetically distinct from its wild relatives

and can no longer survive without their help.

必須依靠蟻群，無法自力更生。

Reciprocally, the fungus provides the ants with an essential amino acid

作為回報，菌類則提供蟻群

牠們缺乏的必要胺基酸和消化酵素。

and digestive enzymes they’ve lost.

Once the workers return to the nest with their spoils,

工蟻帶著葉片回到巢穴後，

they crush up the leaves,

就把葉片切得更碎，

making their offerings easier for the fungus to consume.

讓真菌堆更容易消化。

Foragers work tirelessly over the following months.

工蟻繼續工作好幾個月，

They create thousands of trails, stretching hundreds of meters.

打造出好幾千條 幾百公尺長的長征路徑。

All of them are perfumed with the ants’ pheromones

螞蟻用費洛蒙把這些路徑標記起來，

and constantly cleaned to function as efficient highways.

時不時還會來打掃， 確保路徑走起來最有效率。

Meanwhile, the queen lays thousands of eggs every day

蟻后則賣力孵蛋，一天孵幾千顆，

and is tended to by members of her entourage,

隨從成員則在她身旁負責照顧，

which nourish her with the large, infertile eggs they lay.

他們用自己產的大型不育卵餵養蟻后。

Among enclosures containing garbage and growing larvae,

每間房間都有廢棄物和成長中的幼蟲，

workers tend fungal gardens in various chambers throughout the colony.

工蟻照料蟻窩裡的所有真菌園，

They prune bits of the fungus to stimulate growth

牠們時不時修剪這些真菌， 促進真菌成長，

and strategically open and close surface tunnels,

並有計劃地開關通往地面的隧道，

controlling the humidity.

以控制濕度。

But ants aren't the only animals down here.

但在這座蟻窩裡的可不止螞蟻。

Tiny cockroaches like those that originally crept under the queen’s wings

原本躲在蟻后翅膀下的這些小蟑螂

feed opportunistically off the fungus.

也吃切葉蟻養的真菌。

Each could fit on the head of a Q-Tip.

這些小蟑螂比棉花棒頭還小。

They hitch rides on soon-to-be queens,

他們搭蟻后的便車

and make their way to more established colonies.

去到更發達的蟻窩。

Inside the leafcutter nest, they’re undercover:

在切葉蟻窩裡，他們扮演臥底，

closely mimicking the ants’ signature scent,

模仿切葉蟻獨有的氣味。

they frolic and feed in the fungal gardens,

牠們在真菌園打混摸魚，還偷吃真菌，

mostly undetected.

大都沒被發現。

And here’s where this tale’s antagonist rears its virulent fruiting body:

接下來，這則故事的反派登場。

our elusive fourth character is a parasitic micro-fungus called Escovopsis.

這位難以捉摸的第四位角色是 寄生性微真菌 Escovopsis 。

If left unchecked, it would destroy the fungal gardens and the ants

如果放任牠生長，牠會毀掉真菌園、

and the cockroaches that depend on them.

切葉蟻，和依靠前面兩者維生的蟑螂。

The leafcutters mount a barrage of defenses.

切葉蟻建立起防線，

They rigorously weed Escovopsis out

賣力剷除 Escovopsis ，

and partner up with different microorganisms like yeasts and bacteria

利用許多微生物，像是酵母菌和細菌，

to stunt its growth.

來抑制牠的生長。

Eventually, the leafcutter colony covers several meters of underground tunnels,

切葉蟻最終打造出領地廣大的王國， 有幾公尺長的地下隧道，

comprises millions of workers, and can defoliate a tree in a single night.

擁有幾百萬名成員，

牠們能在一夜之間 啃掉一棵樹的所有葉子。

The queen’s kingdom will persist as long as she does,

這座王國會活得跟蟻后一樣久，

which may be over a decade.

也就是大概十年。

Every spring, some of the queen’s offspring prepare to leave.

每年春天都有一些 蟻后的後代要離巢。

They grab a piece of home and crowd the surface chambers,

牠們帶走一小塊家園的磚瓦， 一個接一個走出老家，

preparing to fly off and mate, beginning the cycle anew.

準備展翅高飛，開始新的生命循環。