Project Outlook

The name Wood Wide Ants (WWA) takes inspiration from the concept of "Wood Wide Web", developed by Suzanne Simard in her book Finding the Mother Tree (2021). Beside the fact that our primary working field took place in coniferous forests—quite alike the ones studied by the Canadian researcher, the term "Wide" embodies the collegial nature of the project, which wants to catch the intricate spectrum of genomic, ecological and historical aspects of Formica paralugubris (a "Wood Ant") all together. And this can be realised just through the cooperation and collaboration of people with different skills, led by a common objective: to unravel the mysteries of our Planet's biodiversity and to protect it, together.

Formica paralugubris is an Italian ant species native to a small area of the Central and Western Alps. From 1950s F. paralugubris was artificially introduced along the entire Italian Apennines and the Major Islands, and later also in Germany and Canada. This initiative was led by the entomologist Mario Pavan, who wanted to use the species as an antagonist of several insect conifer pests and to create reservoir ant populations already adapted to milder climates from which to draw for future introductions.

The first objective of the Wood Wide Ants (WWA) Project is to generate a high-quality reference genome of Formica paralugubris. The assembly will be used for population genomics analyses, with the aim of elucidating the population structure and demographic dynamics of both native (Alps) and introduced (Apennines) populations. For the latter, we plan to analyse colonies from the Foreste Casentinesi National Park at first, but then to hopefully include also those from others localities. Overall, thanks to the contribution of museum samples as well (from Kosmos Museum, Pavia, Italy), we would like to investigate population differentiation over both space and time. Our findings will contribute to the conservation efforts for native populations, and enhance our understanding of the consequences of recent human-mediated introductions in forest ecosystems.

We collaborate with a broad range of stakeholders: international ecologists, entomologists, and taxonomists, forest rangers, national park organisations, museums, nature conservation organisations, schools and the wider public. Our goal is to increase the awareness of the public about the role of genomics in conservation biology, by using F. paralugubris as a flagship of the the importance of conservation actions towards invertebrate (and sometimes less charismatic) species. In fact, although F. paralugubris and red wood ants are classified as “Near Threatened” by the IUCN Red List, regulations governing their protection vary significantly across European countries. Even within Italy, some regional governments offer protection while others do not.  Thus, we aim to promote the creation of more consistent legislation across various regions, thereby facilitating the protection of these species. In this context, F. paralugubris may serve as a valuable model for disseminating the possible pros and cons of human-mediated introductions of alien species.