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

An Azteca ant approaches a caterpillar on an Ecuador laurel leaf in Jalisco, Mexico. Once the ant finds a caterpillar, it recruits nestmates to the leaf, and they bite the caterpillar’s underside. Larger ant colonies send more ants to attack such intruders. Together, the ants can chase caterpillars many times their size from the tree. Image credit: Elizabeth G. Pringle