Replacing pesticides with ants to protect crops

Bob Yirka is a research scientist at Phys.org.

A team of researchers affiliated with several institutions in Brazil, working with one colleague from Spain and another from the U.S., has found evidence that ants can be used as a natural pesticide. The group describes how they analyzed studies conducted by researchers across the world to learn more about the possible use of natural pest control options by farmers.

Commercial pesticides have been used by farmers around the world to increase crop yields. Pesticides can have some dramatic side effects, such as reductions in pollinators, pollution and concerns about what the chemicals in the pesticides do to the people that eat the crops. Natural pesticides are being looked into by researchers around the world. The use of ants has been used to feed on insects that damage plants.

The use of ants to control pests has been done in China for hundreds of years. The researchers wondered what other researchers had found when they looked into the use of ants as pesticides. They searched for published research papers on the topic and found 52 of them that had looked into the use of ants as a way to control pests.

The researchers found that most of the studies had led to discoveries of ants providing a high level of pest control and that the ants were even better at it than commercial pesticides. The ants did their best work when used with crops grown in partial shade, and were the least effective when used with crops that produce honeydew, in order to provide themselves with the sweet liquid.

The use of ants to control pests seems to be a sustainable and inexpensive way to control pests on both large and small farms, according to the researchers.

More information: Diego V. Anjos et al, The effects of ants on pest control: a meta-analysis, Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences (2022). DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2022.1316 Journal information: Proceedings of the Royal Society B

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