AUSTRALIA (Commonwealth Union) – Groups of ants have always been a source of fascination for many while playing a crucial role in ecosystems. Findings from a study by a group of international researchers from Australia, Germany and Hong Kong evaluated results from almost 500 studies that gathered ants in different habitats globally.
The study, appeared in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, saw the 1st empirical approximation of the complete number of ants on the planet which is said to be 20 quadrillion. University of Western Australia’s Dr Mark Wong, a Forrest Fellow from the School of Biological Sciences, stated that the global ant population as a whole consists of 12 megatons of dry carbon, a figure goes over the biomass of all the world’s wild birds and mammals collectively and equal to around a 5th of the complete biomass of humans. Dr Wong also stated they saw tons of ants on the planet highlighting their ecological value.
“Not only are ants manifold in number, but also in their ecological roles. They are prey for some animals, predators of many others and are especially important as seed dispersers, soil churners and scavengers,” he said, adding that from the Saharan desert to the Amazonian rainforest and even our domestic front we have twenty quadrillion ants to show our appreciation for maintaining cleanliness and health of our earth.
The results emphasized the significance of ants and the requirement to further know how they respond to environmental alterations. “Our results show that the numbers of ants are highest in the tropics, which include areas facing some of the strongest pressures from human disturbances and environmental change,” Dr Wong said. The findings are likely to be beneficial to environmentalists as ants have played a crucial role in aeration of the soil similar to the role of earthworms and the movement of liquids to plants.
