The population of ants on Earth is 2.5 million times that of humans, with a total of four quadrillion insects of the Earth’s species. The estimate is the result of a study published yesterday in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
The research was carried out by a team of experts from Australia, Germany and Hong Kong. The group analyzed 489 studies from all continents to adjust the insect mean.
The study also estimates the total mass of ants on the planet at 12 megatons, which is greater than all birds and mammals combined, according to Mark Wong of the University of Western Australia, one of the study’s authors. world.
“We found that there are literally tons of ants in the world. This shows the ecological value they have,” said the positioning expert published by the university.
The analysis also showed that ant populations are highest near the tropics, one of the regions feeling the greatest impacts of human damage to nature, and the movement of seeds and soil they make underlines the species’ ecological role in the world.
“They also have a huge impact on maintaining the earth’s nutrient cycle, by moving about 13 tonnes of soil mass per hectare each year,” said study leader Patrick Schultheiss, a biologist at the University of Würzburg in Germany.
source: Noticias
