Ant mounds are more important for biodiversity than previously thought
Published:16 May2023 Source:Aarhus University
Most of us are annoyed by ants in our gardens. There are so many of them! And if you leave food out on your garden table, even for just a couple of minutes, the table will be swarming with ants when you return. Most garden owners will therefore do everything they can to get rid of ant colonies in their garden. But perhaps we should leave the ants be? Because they are hugely beneficial for biodiversity, a new study shows.
With colleagues from the Department of Ecoscience at Aarhus University, Rikke Reisner Hansen has studied ant mounds on Danish heathlands to discover their importance for other insects and for plants. And they really are important!
"The ants drag dead animals back to the ant mound, and this adds carbon and other important nutrients to the surrounding soil. The ant mound moreover warms up the surrounding ground, and in springtime, adders, lizards and beetles like to rest near ant mounds for warmth. The heat and the nutrients create unique conditions that allow certain plant species that don't otherwise thrive on heathland to thrive on the ant mound," she says.