Editing Yellow crazy ant (section)

==Mutualism==
Crazy ants obtain much of their food requirements from [[scale insect]]s, which are plant pests that feed on sap of trees and release [[honeydew (secretion)|honeydew]], a sugary liquid. Ants eat honeydew, and in return protect the scale insects from their enemies and spread them among trees, an example of [[mutualism (biology)|mutualism]]. The honeydew not eaten by the ants drips onto the trees and encourages the growth of sooty mold over the leaves and stems. This gives plants an ugly black appearance and reduces their health and vigor.

The ants protect the insects by "nannying" the mobile crawler stages and protecting them against their natural enemies.<ref name=ness>{{cite journal |last1=Ness |year=2004|title= The Effects of Invasive Ants on Prospective ant Mutualists |journal=Biological Invasions |volume=6 |pages=445–461|doi= 10.1023/B:BINV.0000041556.88920.dd |first1=J.H. |last2=Bronstein |first2=J.L. |issue=4|s2cid=10180210|display-authors=etal}}</ref> Experiments have shown that this connection is so strong that, in environments where ''A. gracilipes'' was removed, the density of scale insects dropped by 67% within 11 weeks, and to zero after 12 months.<ref name=a2007>{{cite journal |last1=Abbott |year=2007|title= Collapse of an ant-scale mutualism in a rainforest on Christmas Island |journal=Oikos|volume=116 |pages=1238–1246 |doi=10.1111/j.0030-1299.2007.15629.x |first1=Kirsti L. |last2=Green |first2=Peter T. |issue=7|display-authors=etal}}</ref>