symbioses
awild | December 1, 2009
Cephalotes grandinosus, an herbivorous ant
Why are there so many ants?
This is a more perplexing question than it may seem. At first glance ants are predators and scavengers. Yet predators should be few in number, balanced on a narrow trophic peak and depending on high prey biomass to exist. Why are terrestrial ecosystems dominated by these little hunters?
A landmark study several years ago by Dinah Davidson provided an answer: many ants are not predators at all. They're herbivores. Sure, they snack now and again on flesh. But ants get most of their energy from plants, either…