ReviewOecologia2018
The role of ants in north temperate grasslands: a review.
Review in Oecologia, 2018. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 22 papers.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
22 citing papers in PubMed, 118 citations in OpenAlex.
- Article
- Grassland Degradation Changes the Complexity of Ant-Hemipteran-Plant Tritrophic Mutualisms.Plants (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Article
- Hungary's Current Climate Conditions Converge With the North-Mediterranean of the 1980s: A Case Study in Mediterranean Ant Species New to Hungary.Ecology and evolution · 2026Article
- Fitness related effects of titanium dioxide nanoparticles and glyphosate exposure on Cardiocondyla obscurior.Environmental science and pollution research international · 2026Article
- Impact of Biogenic Structures of the Soil-Nesting AntsInsects · 2025Article
- Environmental Variation Contributes to Head Phenotypes in Workers ofEcology and evolution · 2025Article
- Ant's Nest as a microenvironment: DistinctEcology and evolution · 2024Article
- Rodent competition and fire alter patterns of mound and disk formation of western harvester ants.Oecologia · 2024Article
- Eco-Morphological Responses ofInsects · 2024Article
- Species-specific behavioural responses to environmental variation as a potential species coexistence mechanism in ants.Proceedings. Biological sciences · 2024Article
- Article
- Ant nests increase litter decomposition to mitigate the negative effect of warming in an alpine grassland ecosystem.Proceedings. Biological sciences · 2023Article
- Local and landscape environmental heterogeneity drive ant community structure in temperate seminatural upland grasslands.Ecology and evolution · 2023Article
- Functional roles of ants in a temperate grassland.Die Naturwissenschaften · 2021Article
- Behavior and body size modulate the defense of toxin-containing sawfly larvae against ants.Scientific reports · 2021Article
- Ant community composition and functional traits in new grassland strips within agricultural landscapes.Ecology and evolution · 2021Article
- Small-scale drivers on plant and ant diversity in a grassland habitat through a multifaceted approach.PeerJ · 2021Article
- Individual vs. Combined Short-Term Effects of Soil Pollutants on Colony Founding in a Common Ant Species.Frontiers in insect science · 2021Article
- Benefits of insect colours: a review from social insect studies.Oecologia · 2020Review
- Ant removal distance, but not seed manipulation and deposition site increases the establishment of a myrmecochorous plant.Oecologia · 2020Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
2 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
Historic and current land-use changes have altered the landscape for grassland biota, with over 90% of grasslands and savannas converted to agriculture or some other use in north temperate regions. Reintegrating grasslands into agricultural landscapes can increase biodiversity while also providing valuable ecosystem services. In contrast to their well-known importance in tropical and subtropical ecosystems, the role of ants in temperate grasslands is often underappreciated. As consumers and ecosystem engineers, ants in temperate grasslands influence invertebrate, plant, and soil microbial diversity and potentially alter grassland productivity. As common and numerically dominant invertebrates in grasslands, ants can also serve as important indicator species to monitor conservation and management practices. Drawing on examples largely from mesic, north temperate studies, and from other temperate regions where necessary, we review the roles of ants as consumers and ecosystem engineers in grasslands. We also identify five avenues for future research to improve our understanding of the roles of ants in grasslands. This includes identifying how grassland fragmentation may influence ant community assembly, quantifying how ant communities impact ecosystem functions and soil processes, and understanding how ant communities and their associated interactions are impacted by climate change. In synthesizing the role of ants in temperate grasslands and identifying knowledge gaps, we hope this and future work will help inform how land managers maximize grassland conservation value while increasing multiple ecosystem services and minimizing disservices.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.