The importance of red wood ants on forest ecosystem processes

Ant research

Red wood ants (Formica rufa-group) are found in many conifer and mixed conifer-hardwoods forests of Europe. While a lot of research concerning red wood ant biology, behavior, and geographical distribution has been conducted in the past, very little information is available regarding their impact on soil processes and soil pool sizes. Red wood ants build large mounds consisting primarily of organic detritus, which could be important in carbon (C) and nitrogen (N) cycling in forest ecosystems.

Specifically we tried to answer the following questions by investigating the role of red wood ants in the Switzerland and Finland:

• How much do red wood ant mounds contribute to total C and N pools in forested ecosystems?.
  
• Does material from red wood ant mounds decompose faster than material from the surrounding forest floor?
  
• How much do red wood ant mounds contribute to the ecosystem CO2 emission?

Additionally, we are interested in the distribution of these ants in North America and how imported European red wood ants survive on the North American continent.

Collaborators: METLA (Finland), University of Joensuu, University of Helsinki, Michigan Technological University (USA), Hyogo University (Japan)

Contact

• Anita Christina Risch
  

• Martin Schütz