The ants’ extinction and its consequences on the ecological balance

A large number of the species that rely on ants as a food source would die out if they disappeared.

While ant nests can be a nuisance, as explained by the Royal Horticultural Society, scientists agree that these insects are essential to the health of our ecosystem and recommend leaving them alone.

We rarely notice ants escaping, but they work tirelessly for our benefit. In 2011, the University of Exeter conducted a study on the impact of ants on their environment, and scientists concluded that ants, who fiercely defend their territory and can defeat much larger intruders by swarming them, have a significant effect on the environment.

According to Dirk Sanders of the University of Exeter: “Despite their predatory nature, their presence can increase the density and diversity of other animal populations. They play an important role in the local ecology and have a significant impact on the food web’s grasslands.”

“The effect of ants on nutrient levels in the soil has a positive effect on animal populations at lower levels,” says Frank van Veen’s study.

Simultaneously, the higher the ant density, “the greater the impact on their predatory effects – thus negating the positive effect through ecosystem engineering.” As we all know, an ecosystem is a delicate balance, and ants play a significant, if not always positive, role in it.

According to “The Effect of Ants on Soil Properties and Operations,” published in Myrmecological News in August 2008, ant activity below ground is similarly beneficial to that of earthworms.

As the research concluded, “building corridors increases the porosity of the soil,” The ant nests in these areas cause the soil pH to decrease and the nutrient content to rise.

Ant colonies’ waste and decomposing food also contribute to nutrient dispersal. According to the study’s findings, there is still much to learn about the effects of ants on the soil of their nests as well as outside of them, and what is known varies by species.

We are dependent on ants for our very own survival because, should they become extinct, the world’s plants, as well as the animals that graze on those plants, and so on and so forth in the food chain, will all perish.