THE world's human population is forecast to surpass 8 billion in the coming months. Compared to ants, that is a mediocre milestone.
Researchers have made the most thorough assessment to date of the global population of ants - insects that have colonized almost everywhere on the planet - and the estimated total is a mind-blowing 20 quadrillion of them, or approximately 2.5 million for every human.
It should come as little surprise considering how ubiquitous these busy and social insects are and the fact that they have thrived since the age of dinosaurs, with the oldest-known ant fossil dating back about 100 million years to the Cretaceous Period.
"Ants certainly play a very central role in almost every terrestrial ecosystem," said entomologist Patrick Schultheiss of the University of Würzburg in Germany and the University of Hong Kong, co-lead author of the study published this week in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
"They are very important for nutrient cycling, decomposition processes, plant seed dispersal and the perturbation of soil. Ants are also an extremely diverse group of insects, with the different species fulfilling a wide range of functions. But most of all, it is their high abundance that makes them key ecological players," Schultheiss said.
There are more than 12,000 known species of ants, which generally are black, brown or red in color and possess bodies segmented into three parts. Ranging in size from about four-hundredths of an inch (1 mm) to about 1.2 inches (3 cm) long, ants typically inhabit soil, leaf litter or decaying plants - and occasionally human kitchens.
Ants, whose closest relatives are bees and wasps, are native to nearly everywhere on Earth, as any picnicker knows, except Antarctica, Greenland, Iceland and some island nations.
"I was amazed that the ants' biomass was higher than that of wild mammals and birds combined, and that it reaches 20% of the human biomass. That gives you an understanding of the scale of their impact," said insect ecologist and study co-lead author Sabine Nooten, also of the University of Würzburg and University of Hong Kong.
"I find the enormous diversity of ants fascinating. They can be tiny or huge and show the most bizarre adaptations," Nooten added, citing a widespread ant genus called Strumigenys, known for long mouthparts with spikes used to hunt small invertebrates.
The researchers based their analysis on 489 studies of ant populations spanning every continent where ants live.
"Our dataset represents a massive collecting effort of thousands of scientists. We were then able to extrapolate the number of ants for different regions of the world and estimate their total global number and biomass," Schultheiss said.
Tropical regions were found to harbor many more ants than other regions, with forests and drylands boasting more ants than urban areas.
"There are certain parts of the world where we have little data and we cannot reach reliable estimates for all continents. Africa is one such example. We have long known that it is a very ant-rich continent but also very under-studied," Schultheiss said.
Ants generally live in colonies, sometimes consisting of millions of them divided into groups with different roles such as workers, soldiers, and queens. The workers, all females, care for the bigger queen and her offspring, maintain the nest, and forage for food. Males mate with queens, then die.
"Some ants can certainly be very annoying, but that's a very human-centered perspective," Schultheiss said.
"Most ants are actually highly beneficial, even to us humans," Schultheiss added. "Think about the amount of organic matter that 20 quadrillion ants transport, remove, recycle and eat. In fact, ants are so essential for the smooth working of biological processes that they can be seen as ecosystem engineers. The late ant scientist E.O. Wilson once called them 'the little things that run the world.'"
Reuters
Sat Sep 24 2022
![The ants go marching one by one - 20 quadrillion of them The ants go marching one by one - 20 quadrillion of them](https://resizer-awani.eco.astro.com.my/tr:w-177,h-100,q-100,f-auto/https://img.astroawani.com/2022-09/71663734797_Ant.jpg)
A leaf-cutting ant (Atta cephalotes) carries a leaf with another ant at La Selva biological station in Sarapiqui, 80 miles (129 km) north of San Jose, Costa Rica. - REUTERS
![Berita tempatan pilihan sepanjang hari ini Berita tempatan pilihan sepanjang hari ini](https://resizer-awani.eco.astro.com.my/tr:w-177,h-100,q-100,f-auto/https://img.astroawani.com/2023-12/61703329565_TBBERITAx.jpg)
Berita tempatan pilihan sepanjang hari ini
Berikut adalah berita yang paling menjadi tumpuan sepanjang Isnin, 8 Julai 2024.
![Berita antarabangsa pilihan sepanjang hari ini Berita antarabangsa pilihan sepanjang hari ini](https://resizer-awani.eco.astro.com.my/tr:w-177,h-100,q-100,f-auto/https://img.astroawani.com/2024-03/71709993909_TBBERITAx.jpg)
Berita antarabangsa pilihan sepanjang hari ini
Antara pelbagai berita luar negara yang disiarkan di Astro AWANI, berikut adalah yang paling menjadi tumpuan sepanjang hari ini.
![Presiden Korea Selatan bincang hubungan Korea Utara-Rusia di sidang kemuncak NATO Presiden Korea Selatan bincang hubungan Korea Utara-Rusia di sidang kemuncak NATO](https://resizer-awani.eco.astro.com.my/tr:w-177,h-100,q-100,f-auto/https://img.astroawani.com/2024-05/41717061182_YoonSukYeol.jpg)
Presiden Korea Selatan bincang hubungan Korea Utara-Rusia di sidang kemuncak NATO
Presiden Korea Selatan Yoon Suk Yeol akan melawat Amerika Syarikat (AS) pada Isnin untuk menghadiri sidang kemuncak NATO di Washington.
![Lima diberkas pecah rumah, curi kabel di Kota Tinggi Lima diberkas pecah rumah, curi kabel di Kota Tinggi](https://resizer-awani.eco.astro.com.my/tr:w-177,h-100,q-100,f-auto/https://img.astroawani.com/2024-07/61720433224_HussinZamora.jpg)
Lima diberkas pecah rumah, curi kabel di Kota Tinggi
Polis menahan lima individu dipercayai terlibat dalam kegiatan pecah rumah dan mencuri kabel di sebuah rumah di Kampung Sungai Rinting, Masai di Johor Bahru pada 4 Julai lepas.
![Indonesia sasar jadi destinasi penempatan modal Indonesia sasar jadi destinasi penempatan modal](https://resizer-awani.eco.astro.com.my/tr:w-177,h-100,q-100,f-auto/https://img.astroawani.com/2024-06/51718345868_JAKARTA.jpg)
Indonesia sasar jadi destinasi penempatan modal
Kerajaan Indonesia sedang melaksanakan inisiatif strategik untuk menubuhkan pejabat keluarga, entiti persendirian yang bertujuan menguruskan urusan perniagaan keluarga mewah, lapor Xinhua.
![Polis tahan suspek serangan arson rumah wartawan di Sumatera Utara Polis tahan suspek serangan arson rumah wartawan di Sumatera Utara](https://resizer-awani.eco.astro.com.my/tr:w-177,h-100,q-100,f-auto/https://img.astroawani.com/2024-07/51720446855_TBpolri.jpg)
Polis tahan suspek serangan arson rumah wartawan di Sumatera Utara
Polis Indonesia menahan dua suspek berhubung serangan arson yang mengorbankan wartawan Tribrata TV Rico Sempurna Pasaribu dan tiga ahli keluarganya pada 27 Jun di Daerah Karo.
![KPDN Kulim sita 222 kg minyak masak peket KPDN Kulim sita 222 kg minyak masak peket](https://resizer-awani.eco.astro.com.my/tr:w-177,h-100,q-100,f-auto/https://img.astroawani.com/2024-07/81720432985_MinyakMasakPaket.jpg)
KPDN Kulim sita 222 kg minyak masak peket
KPDN Kulim menyita 222 kilogram (kg) minyak masak peket bersubsidi yang dipercayai 'disorokkan' di sebuah premis di Taman Makmur dekat Kulim, semalam.
![Penolong pegawai perubatan maut, nahas ambulans dengan treler Penolong pegawai perubatan maut, nahas ambulans dengan treler](https://resizer-awani.eco.astro.com.my/tr:w-177,h-100,q-100,f-auto/https://img.astroawani.com/2024-07/61720447381_TBeksiden.jpg)
Penolong pegawai perubatan maut, nahas ambulans dengan treler
Seorang penolong pegawai perubatan maut dalam kemalangan membabitkan sebuah ambulans swasta dan treler di Kilometer 330.8 Lebuhraya Utara Selatan arah utara dekat Tapah, hari ini.
![Imigresen Johor tahan 86 warga asing atas pelbagai kesalahan Imigresen Johor tahan 86 warga asing atas pelbagai kesalahan](https://resizer-awani.eco.astro.com.my/tr:w-177,h-100,q-100,f-auto/https://img.astroawani.com/2024-07/71720449220_Imigresen.jpg)
Imigresen Johor tahan 86 warga asing atas pelbagai kesalahan
Jabatan Imigresen Malaysia (JIM) Johor menahan 86 warga asing atas pelbagai kesalahan dalam operasi berasingan di sekitar daerah Mersing, Batu Pahat dan Johor Bahru pada Isnin hingga Rabu lepas.
Tumpuan Selasa – 09 Julai 2024
Ikuti rangkuman berita utama yang menjadi tumpuan di Astro AWANI.