I give you credit for thinking ... But if you are a serious thinker and have the level of reasoning ability above high school, try to figure out the not-so-subtle difference in the definition below for the word “benefit”:

(1) v. (tr.): To be helpful or useful to.
(2) v. (intr.): To derive benefit: You will benefit from her good example.

If you are intellectually honest and are able to tell the difference, you may agree with me that the intended meaning in your writing is the second (in which case you do need to use “from”). You may also agree with me that the examples you gave in your response used the first meaning of the word (that is, ants and plants are helpful to each other). In the first meaning, you do not need to use “from”.

I will let you decide.

By the way, the definition I used here is from www.dictionary.com, a free service …