Myrmecol. News 36: 73-90

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.25849/myrmecol.news_036:073
  • Open Access: CC BY 4.0
  • Author: Longmeyer, J., Dahal, N., Medina, N. & Vandermeer, J.
  • Year: 2026
  • Title: Ground-nesting ants as engineers of microbial landscapes
  • Journal: Myrmecological News
  • Volume: 36
  • Pages: 73-90
  • Type of contribution: Review Article
  • Supplementary material: No
  • Abstract: As soil-ecosystem engineers, ground-nesting ants modulate their environment in ways that impact microbial communities across scales. Through behaviors such as bioturbation and alteration of abiotic gradients, ants alter habitat complexity, resource availability, and selection regimes for microbes. Interactions such as this are increasingly recognized as important components in shaping the structure and function of ecological communities and reinforce the conception of ants as important ecosystem engineers. In this review, we survey current knowledge on the ecological consequences of ant-driven processes for soil-microbial biodiversity patterns and dynamics at different spatial scales, ranging from individual nests to landscapes, as well as how they are modulated by spatial and temporal context dependency. We discuss the consequences of these ant-driven processes as well as research gaps that inhibit our understanding of ant engineering effects on microbial communities, associated with recent methodological advances for addressing them. Lastly, we provide a table of microbial-ecology methods that are commonly used to capture and quantify microbial communities for myrmecologists interested in exploring new avenues within this emerging field of ant-microbe interactions.
  • Key words: Formicidae, Hymenoptera, soil, ecosystem engineer, microbes, landscape, ant-microbe interactions, zoogeochemistry, review.
  • Publisher: The Austrian Society of Entomofaunistics
  • ISSN: 1997-3500
  • Check out the accompanying blog contribution: https://blog.myrmecologicalnews.org/2026/03/04/highlighting-the-big-impacts-of-tiny-engineers/

Myrmecol. News 36: 73-90, Supplement

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  • Open Access: CC BY 4.0
  • Year: 2026
  • Journal: Myrmecological News
  • Volume: 36
  • Pages: 59-72
  • Type of contribution: Supplement
  • Supplementary material: Yes
  • Key words: Hymenoptera, Formicidae, biological invasion, genetic differentiation, aggressive behavior, supercolony, microbiota.
  • Publisher: The Austrian Society of Entomofaunistics
  • ISSN: 1997-3500