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BOB HIRSHON (host):
Ant-eating bears. I’m Bob Hirshon and this is Science Update.
Bears love honey, of course, but according to Florida State University ecologist Josh Grinath, they’re also big ant-eaters.
JOSH GRINATH (Florida State University):
Black bears, about a third of their annual diet in Colorado is just ants.
HIRSHON:
In the journal Ecology Letters, he writes that in Colorado meadows, an important shrub called rabbitbrush is attacked by treehoppers – tiny insects that suck the plants’ sap and secrete a sweet substance called honeydew. Ants drink the honeydew and protect the treehoppers from predators.
GRINATH:
And I found out that the ants and the treehoppers take a real toll on the plants, that the plants grow less and reproduce less whenever there are these treehoppers on the plants that are being protected by the ants.
HIRSHON:
But where black bears control ant populations, the plants are able to bounce back. So, bears and their love of ants may have a profound effect on the entire ecosystem. I’m Bob Hirshon for AAAS, the Science Society.