Ants are species which have largest forces on this planet. Ants play an important role to many specimens because of their effects on environments and ecosystems. Ants not only help to scarify snappily (stronger than worms), support in decaying and spread seeds of many plants but also wipe out many pests.

Ants are effective sanitation workers!

Ants decay many materials by eating organic waste, insects or dead animals. They keep the environment clean. Carpenter ants, which commonly nest in dead or damaged woods, promote significantly the process of wood decomposition. After leaving, mushroom and bacteria in the nest will destroy lignin and cellulose widely.

Eat and Eaten

Ants are very important in food network. They eat plants, decaying seeds and plants as well as some small animals. Many ants hunt other insect and eat pests, for example termite.
Some ants eat honeydew produced by aphids. They even protect these aphids from natural predators like ladybird.

Ants are predators which regularly attack other insects and their eggs. In nature, they are food sources of many vertebrates and invertebrates including woodcreepers and other insectivorous insects. Bears usually attack trees having carpenter ants to eat larvae and pupae.

One of the most specimen using ant as a main food is nepenthes. This insectivorous plants grow in swamps and catch these ants which are attracted by their nectars. Their pitchers work as pit traps. Inside the pits are filled with water and their surfaces are very slippery preventing ants crawling out. After that, they will be decomposed by enzyme.

Ants are engineers of ecosystem

Many ants are compared with engineers of ecosystem. An ecosystem engineer is a specimen building an appropriate environment for its life. Thereby, it affects to proliferation, diversity and space model of others. Beaver which turned stream into lake is an example. Ants also make similarity with soil. They are soil engineers. From their nesting habits, ants have improved soil, mixed the soil together and created the paths of water and air flow through the tunnels and chambers which make ant nesting architecture. These activities lead to form the soil and change chemical, physical and biological structures.