The natural world is rich with examples of give and take relationships. Bees pollinate flowers and receive pollen. Clown fish clean anemones, receiving protection in kind. But these relationships, or “systems,” are often more complex than they appear, some offering lessons that could help shape our future. What’s at stake in the relationship between leafcutter ants and the fungal gardens they nurture deep in their subterranean burrows? In this episode of SciVIBE, scientist Kristin Burnum-Johnson explains what’s up with these underground, invertebrate farmers, and what we stand to learn from studying their system.