Human activities are merging worldwide ant populations, wearing down natural evolutionary differences and threatening biodiversity, particularly in tropical regions and on islands.Human activity is leading to the global redistribution of ants, with a new study in Nature Communications from the Department of Ecology and Evolution at UNIL highlighting how this shift is altering ant neighborhoods worldwide. Their findings unveil a profound change in the historic distributions of ant species, underscoring the significant effects of human activity on our environmental landscapes.Compared with the continents, the homogenization of ant assemblages is particularly marked on islands, which are home to some uncommon and particularly susceptible environments. Credit: Lucie Aulus-Giacosa, DEE-UNILThe dispersal of 309 non-native ant species has actually had a significant effect on the biogeographical patterns of all 13,774 ant types with recognized circulations, with the emergence of a single bioregion in the tropics consisting of comparable species assemblages. “Furthermore, our findings reveal a pivotal insight: the profound modifications caused by non-native ant species extend far beyond the circulation patterns of the 309 ants we evaluated. “Its deeply disconcerting to acknowledge that within a mere 200 years of human influence, weve handled to totally overhaul patterns shaped by 120 million years of ant evolution,” mentions Cleo Bertelsmeier, highlighting the extensive implications of our eco-friendly footprint on Earths biodiversity.Compared with the continents, the homogenization of ant assemblages is especially marked on islands, which are home to some especially vulnerable and unusual environments.
Human activities are combining worldwide ant populations, deteriorating natural evolutionary distinctions and threatening biodiversity, particularly in tropical areas and on islands.Human activity is leading to the worldwide redistribution of ants, with a new research study in Nature Communications from the Department of Ecology and Evolution at UNIL highlighting how this shift is modifying ant neighborhoods worldwide. Their findings reveal a profound modification in the historic distributions of ant species, highlighting the significant repercussions of human activity on our eco-friendly landscapes.Compared with the continents, the homogenization of ant assemblages is especially marked on islands, which are home to some uncommon and particularly vulnerable ecosystems. Credit: Lucie Aulus-Giacosa, DEE-UNILThe dispersal of 309 non-native ant species has actually had a significant impact on the biogeographical patterns of all 13,774 ant types with known distributions, with the emergence of a single bioregion in the tropics consisting of similar species assemblages.