Life And Society

Ferns found to work together in bee-like colonies

08:45 am on 7 August 2020

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New research has shown plants can work together to survive.

In the tropical rainforest on Lord Howe Island off Australia's East Coast, biologists found ferns living in colonies.

This kind of behaviour - called eusociality - has previously only been attributed to animals, most commonly insects such as bees and wasps.

Kevin Burns is Professor in Biology at Victoria University of Wellington.