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Ants play a crucial role in regulating ecosystem functions such as nutrient cycles. By moving vertically between deeper and shallower soil layers, ants also move around organic material such as seeds, leaf fragments, carcasses, feces and other organic material. When decomposed by fungi and bacteria this material returns to the soil as nutrients, used by plants and other soil dwelling species. Furthermore, while digging and constructing their nests, ants also help aerate the soil, allowing water and oxygen to reach plant roots and deeper soil layers.
Although not one of the most prominent pollinator groups (such as butterflies and bees), ants are considered pollinators of plants (to an extent) and have formed specialized mutualistic relationships with plants such as spurges (Euphorbia) and some orchids.
Up-to-date, only a few orchid species are known to be pollinated by ants. One of them seen in the picture is Chamorchis alpina, an orchid found in the Alps, pollinated by the ant Formica exsecta and Formica lemani.
Photographs taken from Claessens and Seifert (2017).
Ants are also important mediators of seed dispersal and germination. This "job" is mostly performed by the so called "harvester ants". This group of ants, consisting of members of the genera Aphaenogaster, Euprenolepis, Messor, Pheidole, and Pogonomyrmex collect seeds and grains of various plants moving them in and out of their nests, in specialized chambers of their nests called "granaries". In this way, ants may feed on some seeds but also increase their dispersal, promote their germination and protect them from other seed predators. More on this behavior can be found here.
More on the relationship between ants and plants here.
Maybe most importantly ants are crucial parts of food webs in all ecosystems. Their are both predators and prey feeding on a variety of different food sources. Some ants are scavengers eating dead insects or animal parts, thus keeping ecosystems cleaner. Some others eat plants or predate on smaller arthropods.
But ants themselves are eaten by numerous larger animals such as mammals, reptiles and birds. Although not many studies have been conducted in Cyprus, we know that ants are used as a food source by the Ocellated Skink Chalcides ocellatus (Çiçek and Göçmen 2013) and even in a greater proportion by the Red Footed Falcon Falco vespertinus (Alivizatos and Kassinis 2021) (seen in picture).
Without ants, many food webs would collapse.
From an economic prospective, ant are also important for the economy. Although in our houses they are commonly perceived as pests, in our fields and gardens ants play an important role in pest management. According to a recent study, In cultivated/agricultural land "ants decrease the abundance of non-honeydew-producing pests, decrease plant damage and increase crop yield". They also "decrease the abundance of natural enemies", although they also "increase honeydew-producing pest abundance". Therefore, ants may be beneficial for sap-sucking insects such as aphids overall, their effects on agriculture are positive.
Lastly, there has been discussion around the use of ants as "bioindicators" i.e. "species or group of species whose function, population, or status can reveal the qualitative status of the environment".
According to Underwood and Fisher (2006), ants can provide valuable information for management-based monitoring: (1) to detect the presence of invasive species, (2) to detect trends among threatened or endangered species, (3) to detect trends among keystone species, (4) to evaluate land management actions, and (5) to assess long-term ecosystem changes.
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