How many ants are there in the world?

Arabia Weather - Ants are one of the most widespread living organisms on Earth, and they constitute an important part of the biological diversity in the environment, as ants are found in most geographical regions around the world, including the continents of the Americas, Asia, Africa, Australia, and Europe.

How many ants are there in the world?

Have you ever asked yourself how many stars there are in our galaxy, how many grains of sand are in the desert, or even how many ants live on Earth? These are questions that seem impossible to answer, but science is getting closer day after day to finding surprising answers to these questions. For example, a research study was conducted, published in the journal “Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences” (PNAS), where researchers were able to estimate the number of Ants in the world, and it seems that the number is amazing, as estimates indicate that the number of ants reaches about 20 quadrillion , or one million billion.

New estimates reveal the number of ants in the world

According to a study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, this estimate is a very large increase of 20 times or more from previous estimates.

Sabine Naughten, an interim principal investigator at the University of Würzburg in Germany who specializes in insect ecology, said they were truly amazed by the huge amount of ants they found. Previous predictions were mainly based on theoretical guesses, and lacked basic experimental data, but in this study, The new data was collected from a wide range of experimental studies, which distinguishes it from previous research. This new information represents an estimate based on reliable observational evidence covering a wide range of environments and geographic regions around the world. This means that ants may be more abundant and widespread. Than previously thought, this study represents a valuable source of data for scientists to understand future changes in ant communities and the environments in which they live. For example, this data has been used to accurately estimate the number of ants in tropical and subtropical regions, opening the door to a better understanding of the evolution of These communities over time.

The effect of changes in agriculture on ant populations

Patrick Schultheis shed light on the changes that have occurred in agricultural and land reclamation methods, which may greatly affect the number of ants. He pointed out that this study is the first of its kind to include information about ants at the global and regional levels. He added that although they know that there is a difference There were a large number of ants in the tropical forests of West Africa compared to the Arctic regions, but they were not aware of the exact numbers.

According to the study, ants exceed the total biomass of living organisms, including birds and land mammals, and are equivalent to about 20% of the biomass of humans. Adam Hart, professor of science communication at the University of Gloucestershire in England, pointed out that the surprising question that was being asked was “How many ants are there on Earth?” Although there were some previous estimates, none were robust enough.

Hart, who was not involved in the study, added that this new study, which was based on nearly 500 studies from around the world, provides the best answer so far to this difficult question, and pointed out that the surprising information is not only the total number of ants, but the proportion The biomass represented by ants, which is equivalent to one-fifth of the biomass of all humans, clearly shows the importance of the presence of ants in the natural environment.

It can be said that the number of ants in the world is not precisely known, and depends on recent estimates and research. Given their diversity and wide spread, ants play an important role in the environment and ecological balance at the global level.

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Sources:

cnn

aljazeera