Helping to protect wood ants with walks

Wood ants play a central role in the forest ecosystem. They are not only natural pest controllers, bringing herbivorous insects into their nests as food in spring and thus protecting the trees from massive feeding damage. They also enrich the soil with nutrients, promote the dispersal of plant seeds and serve as an important food source for numerous bird species. Due to their indispensable functions in the forest ecosystem, all hill-building wood ants are under special protection in Germany: their nests must not be destroyed and the ants must not be killed or collected.

In recent years, experts have noticed signs of dramatic local declines in wood ants. To find out more about this and develop a monitoring concept, Prof. Dr. Heike Feldhaar from the Chair of Population Ecology at the University of Bayreuth launched the “MonitAnt” project at the beginning of the year. The aim of the project is to gain a deeper understanding of the needs of wood ants and the threats they face. “MonitAnt” is funded as part of the EU's large-scale ‘Biodiversa+’ project, which is part of the European Biodiversity Strategy 2030 and aims to record and promote biodiversity in Europe. Researchers from six other European countries are involved in the project in order to collect data as comprehensively as possible. Melvin Opolka, a doctoral student under Prof. Feldhaar, is responsible for the German region.

Part of “MonitAnt” is a citizen science project to record ant hills. The location, surroundings and size of the mound as well as the presence of ants and other insects or spiders can be transmitted via an online form. The researchers want to use the collected data to find out what requirements wood ants have for their habitat, how severe the decline in wood ants currently is and what the reasons for the decline might be. In this way, recommendations for action can be made to forestry, nature conservation and politics in order to improve the protection of wood ants.

In addition to recording the distribution of wood ants via the Citizen Science project, the researchers are also collecting samples and data from ant hills themselves. In collaboration with Prof. Dr. Claus Bässler from the Chair of Fungal Ecology at the University of Bayreuth, the samples collected throughout Europe are analyzed and compared with regard to the fungal community within the anthills. Another focus of the project is on the animals that live in and around the nests of the wood ants: so-called myrmecophiles. The presence of myrmecophiles will be recorded in order to study their diversity in different ant species in our region.

Left: PhD student Melvin Opolka (left) and Bachelor student Lukas Schaller taking samples from an ant hill. Right: An anthill of the strong-bristled mountain ant (Formica lugubris) at the edge of the forest. Photos: Melvin Opolka