The ants go marching

You know how one thing leads to another when you start working on a project.

Sometimes you know you shouldn’t start a simple little household repair and renovation unless you have lots of time free and clear ahead of you. Some people refer to what overtakes those brave enough to embark on such an undertaking as Murphy’s Law (whatever can go wrong, will); those of more positive mind set call these events serendipity (fortunate discoveries found by accident.)

The boys and I have been working on a set of steps, trying to take the shake and rattle out of them and spiff them up a bit. In order to make room to swing a hammer in a useful way, we had to take apart a rock wall. As we lifted the first layer of rocks, a black ant nursery was exposed to view. Hammering had to wait while we watched the nursemaids carry off the pupas to a safer place. “No wonder we get ants in the house,” observed one of the boys.

When ants come into the house, I deal with them in no uncertain terms, but I’ve heard rumours that the creatures are highly beneficial and would not vengefully disturb them. One of those rumours claimed, without ants, life as we know it would cease. Well, that seems extreme!

The only true reference I’m familiar with is in Proverbs 30:25: “The ants are creatures of little strength, yet they store up their food in summer....” Some translations have this passage as “The ants are a people not strong...”.

Stefan Cover does not consider ants people, but he does speak of them as “beings,” and he spends a lot of time with them. As curatorial assistant at Harvard University, he specializes in the ant collection (about 1,000,000 mounted and labelled ants*, not to mention other forms of preservation) in the Museum of Comparative Zoology. In his free time, Mr. Cover has discovered some 40 ant species science knew nothing about! He is also co-author of “Ants of North America,” to be published November 2007.

He has this to say: “If ants went on strike, it would have a dire effect on human society. You could actually speculate how long human society would continue to be recognizable in its present form. I’ll tell you, five years is a long shot.”

Why? Ants are very persistent and efficient scavengers (as you know, if they have ever invaded your kitchen), as well as the leading hunters of other insects and worms in most land- based ecosystems**. What the ants break down into little nutrients is easily absorbed by plants, which we eat, as do other animals, which we also eat. We are all links in the same chain. The ant link is critical.

Not only do they do this essential work, they also form 15 per cent to 25 per cent of the terrestrial animal biomass of the planet*** – as much, if not more, than the six billion or so people who share it.

We are outnumbered and out-massed by the tiny ant! Would you count that fact as Murphy’s Law or serendipity? * http://www.eglimpse.org/Assets/E.%20Terrestrial%20Inverts.pdf ** http://www.pnas.org/cgi/content/full/97/26/14028 *** http://www.madsci.org/posts/archives/may2001/989366143.En.r.html

http://www7.nationalgeographic.com/ngm/0708/feature5/did_you_know.html