Мы продолжаем рубрику — чтение 8 класс английский-7. Узнаем занимательные факты со всего света. Итак, муравьи-зомби.
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Чтение 8 класс английский-7. Муравьи-зомби-I
As a rule, the relationship between plants and insects is a form of mutualism. In other words, it takes on a mutually beneficial character. There are as many such examples as you want. In particular, this is the relationship between flowers and bees. The former provides them with nectar [ˈnektə], and the latter pollinate them. But, unfortunately, this does not always happen. Parasitic plants behave somewhat differently. They try to live at the expense of the insect, depriving it of the opportunity to resist.
A classic [ˈklæsɪk] example of such a relationship is the parasitization of the cordyceps fungus on the body of a woodworm ant. Getting into the body of an insect, the spores of the fungus begin to actively develop. At the same time, the unsuspecting insect loses control of itself. And it completely submits to the will of the fungus. It leaves the anthill and obediently follows to the place that the mushroom will show it.
Having reached it, the ant dies. The mushroom immediately sprouts from his head and is fixed in a new place. His task is to infect with his spores other ants that happen to be nearby. Thus, it can spread over quite large territories. Scientists have been trying for a long time to unravel the mechanism [ˈmekənɪzm] of zombie [ˈzɒmbi] ant cordyceps.
Чтение 8 класс английский-7. Муравьи-зомби-II
It has been suggested that its spores simultaneously penetrate all the muscle fibers of the insect. At the same time, the cells of the fungus are able to secrete a special substance- a metabolite, under the action of which the hereditary gene information of the insect is transformed into functional activity. She then forces the ant to obey the will of the mushroom, and move to the place indicated by it. In addition, the metabolite completely paralyzes the muscles of the insect’s lower jaw.
All this is true, but how does the mushroom control the movements of the ant? How does he show him the direction of movement? What are the mechanisms of these processes? To answer these questions, scientists artificially infected insects with fungus spores. And they studied their behavior by creating a three-dimensional visualization of the entire process using artificial intelligence.
When analyzing the results, it was found that the spores of the fungus penetrate into all parts of the insect’s body, including the nerve centers located in its head. There was a clear coordinated work of all cordyceps cells. In fact, the ant infected with the fungus was no longer such. It was a parasitic fungus clothed in the body of an ant. The ant has completely lost control of its body. Now it was controlled by a mushroom.
Вопросы
Answer the following questions:
1. What is the usual relationship between plants and insects called, and what character does it have?
2. What example of a mutually beneficial relationship is given in the text?
3. How do flowers and bees benefit each other?
4. How do parasitic plants behave differently from mutually beneficial ones?
5. What is a classic example of parasitization mentioned in the text?
6. What happens to an insect after the cordyceps fungus spores get into its body?
7. Where does the infected ant go before it dies, and why?
8. What is the fungus’s task after the ant dies?
9. What have scientists been trying to unravel for a long time?
10. What effect does the metabolite secreted by the fungus have on the ant?
11. How did scientists study the behavior of infected insects and the mechanism of control?
12. What did the analysis of the results reveal about how the fungus controls the ant’s body?
Заключение
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