Myrmecochory

Myrmecochory is basically a fancy word for seed dispersal. Ants are widely known as seed dispersers and they provide seed dispersal tasks for more than 3000 species of plants. You may wonder why an ant would act as a seed disperser (what do they get out of it?). Well, almost all seeds have a fleshy nutritious part called an elaiosome. This elaiosome is rich in proteins, sugars and fats are provides a nutritious meal for the ant. The ant will carry the seed, using the elaisome as a handle and it will then take this seed back to its nest. Once the seed is in its nest, the ant will eat the elaiosome and the seed will then grow out of the nest. This is beneficial to the plant because once the seed is in the ants nest, the seed will have more chance of surviving till germination because the ants nest is in a seclude location, therefore, this location can protect the seed from predation by small rodents and environmental damage (fire etc.)