Can ants be used as an indicator of climate change?  

People are always fascinated about animal behavior and how they perceive and respond to the changing weather patterns. From ancient times, Sri Lankans as well as many other civilizations around the globe, have had some views related with weather pattern changes and behavior of ants. This is our investigation related to ants, weather pattern changes and related misconceptions.

Ants are among the most diverse, abundant and ecologically significant organisms on planet Earth. Globally, there are about 12,571 ant species. Ants are placed in a single family, formicidae. They belong to the order hymenoptera, which includes bees, wasps, sawflies, and ichneumons. Ants occur worldwide but are especially common in hot climates. Their abundance and stability make ants one of the most important groups of insects in ecosystems.  

Great abundance of ants, functional importance, and the complex interactions they have with the rest of the ecosystem, ants are often used as bio-indicators in environmental assessment, such as in fire signaling (Andersen 1988, MacKay et al. 1991, Touyama 1996, Vanderwoude et al. 1997), vegetation disturbance (Greenslade and Greenslade 1977), clearcutting (Jennings et al. 1986, Punttila et al. 1991), mining (Majer 1983; Andersen 1990, 1993), waste disposal (MacKay 1993), and land use (Bestelmeyer and Wiens 1996, Peck et al. 1998). Since, information about climate change can be gathered from researching ant’s behavior. More details about this can be read  from  here  Archived. 

Let’s try to analyze some views related to ants` behaviors and weather pattern changes.

Humans have been following animal behaviors to predict weather for a long time. Animals are highly attuned to any changes beyond normal air pressure fluctuations and their behaviors often change, which we can use as signals of big changes in the weather. 

Ants sometimes build higher mounds to prepare rain. Ant colonies vary from structure, moisture, and temperature of the soil, as well as the structure of the vegetation and the populations of other arthropods. More facts about this can be gathered from here.  Archived.  

Ants are a sensitive organism. Ant antennae can detect tiny changes in temperature, which might allow them to sense and react to the drop in temperature that usually accompanies a rain storm. More can be read here | Archived.

According to bush folklore, ants drag small stones onto their nest when preparing for a long dry, given that rocks reflect heat and help insulate the egg chamber. On the other hand, it creates a compost-like warmth to ready a nest for a wet and colder summer, an ant expert from Australia says.

Due to their low mass, insects heat up or cool down quickly. A research study of leaf cutting ants shows that thermo-sensitive neurons very quickly respond to a drop in temperature providing the ants with thermal information of their microenvironment, which they may use for orientation. More can be read from the research article here Archived. 

Ants tend to respond quickly as a team for weather changes. It’s unbelievable how such a large ant colony could get together so soon. A colony can include many millions of ants, yet queens have no intercom system to address their troops, and ants can’t vocalize, anyway.

So how do they coordinate all their complex collective behavior? E.O.Wilson one of the world’s leading ant experts, mainly focusing on their communication states that ants communicate primarily through the transmission of chemical substances known as pheromones. Pheromones are defined as substances which are secreted to the outside by an individual and received by a second individual of the same species, in which they release a specific reaction. Ant’s antennae is broadly made up of three different classes of receptors such as odorant receptors (ORs), that identify different aromatic compounds and pheromones.

The other type is gustatory receptors (GRs) that distinguish between different tastes and react to some pheromones and newly discovered ionotropic glutamate receptors (IRs), that are narrowly tuned to various poisonous and toxic compounds. “Sensing capability is what allowed ants to develop such a high level of social organization” said Laurence Zwiebel, professor of biological sciences. Since they can quickly pass the message in their colony. This ability led ants to be prepared as a team for even short weather changes. More can be read here  Archived.   

Ant’s response to weather changes has been used as an indicator for organic farming over the years. Ants can control agricultural pests as efficiently as synthetic pesticides, with the bonus of being more cost-effective and generally safer, since many pesticides pose a danger to helpful wildlife like birds, bees and spiders as well as a booming population of humans. More information can be gathered from here   Archived.  

Most ants are helpful for sustainable farming as well as cost effective for farmers. Identifying their behavior can be helpful for assessing climate changes. Because of such abilities they are used as a bio indicators for environmental monitoring. They are a unique group of organisms and further study is essential.