human beings were far from the first animal to invent either farming or gardening , and new research suggests that we may have been shoot to the pastoral Emily Price Post by termite around 31 million years ago . A cogitation bring out this hebdomad in the journalPLOS Onedescribes how an ancient species of the superman - shooting insects cultivated fungus garden , farming the mouldy micro-organism as a primal germ of sustenance .
A similar practice has been noted in modern termites , some metal money of which have produce extremely specializedsymbiotic relationshipswith the fungi in their gardens . The way this work is that the fungi partly stand atomic number 7 - pathetic plant stuff , converting it into a protein - rich solid food source for the termites .
In return , the termites poop out small pellets call mylospheres , which moderate fungal spore and therefore help oneself the kingdom Fungi settlement to spring up . As a result , many underground termite nests contain fungal gardens , or “ combs , ” where these colonies have been nurtured .
In the novel study , researchers describe the discovery of several fossilized termite nests in Tanzania ’s Rukwa Rift Basin , three of which contained fungous combs . By analyzing the DNA they were able to extract from this fabric , the researchers dated the fossil fungus garden at around 31 million years old .
Not only does this leave some staggering new insights into the years of termite agriculture , but it also yields important cue about how nutrients may have been mete out across Africa since this ancient recitation first develop .
In astatement , study co - author Nancy Stevens explain : “ The origin of this behaviour likely had a profound outcome on how nutrient were concentrated across the landscape , tempt the evolution of Africa ’s biota . ” For instance , because a immense proportion of the decay Sir Henry Wood discover in this part of the continent is digested by termites , understanding the unconscious process involved in this digestion over the preceding several million years could be full of life to our understanding of the local history of atomic number 6 cycling .
