Blog Post Image: Mutual benefits: Stressed-out trees boost sugary rewards to ant defenders

Cross-section of an Ecuador laurel stem cavity, where Azteca ants nest. An adult tree has hundreds of stem cavities, and a single colony of Azteca ants typically occupies all the cavities in a given tree. Pink scale insects feed on sap from the laurel stem and produce sugar for the nesting ants. Adult ants are approximately the same size as their larvae, which are visible in this photo — taken in Costa Rica — as white rods at the top of the cavity. Image credit: Jeffrey C. Miller

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