SynthesisProceedings. Biological sciences2022
The effects of ants on pest control: a meta-analysis.
Synthesis in Proceedings. Biological sciences, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 18 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
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
18 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 79 citations in OpenAlex.
- Predators control pests and increase yield across crop types and climates: a meta-analysis.Proceedings. Biological sciences · 2024Pooled it
- The effects of ants on pest control: a meta-analysis.Proceedings. Biological sciences · 2022Pooled it
- The predatory behavior of ants: an impressive panoply of morphological adaptations.Insect science · 2026Review
- Early detection and tracking of wood borers using improved environmental DNA aggregation and TaqMan quantitative PCR approaches in forests.Insect science · 2026Article
- Extrafloral Nectaries in Woody Plants: Toward an Integrated Framework for Ant-Mediated Plant Defense.Plants (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Review
- Article
- Climate Change Can Generate Enemy-Free Space for Crop-Feeding Herbivores.Global change biology · 2026Article
- Distributed Artificial Intelligence for Organizational and Behavioral Recognition of Bees and Ants.Sensors (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Article
- The "2.0" prototype of 3D-printed oak gall nests: closely observing the ant colonies inside.Current zoology · 2025Article
- The complex dynamics of ant-plant mutualisms: exploring the roles of plant-provided resources and bird predation on ants in shaping plant performance.Annals of botany · 2025Article
- Crop yield loss under high insecticide regime driven by reduction in natural pest control.Proceedings. Biological sciences · 2025Article
- Fungus Fighters: Wood Ants (Formica polyctena) and Their Associated Microbes Inhibit Plant Pathogenic Fungi.Microbial ecology · 2024Article
- Testing the joint effects of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi and ants on insect herbivory on potato plants.Planta · 2024Article
- Lessons from Ethiopian coffee landscapes for global conservation in a post-wild world.Communications biology · 2024Review
- Transitioning towards dynamic, nature-based crop defenses.Journal of biosciences · 2024Article
- Naturally Occurring Vegetation Connectivity Facilitates Ant-Mediated Coffee Berry Borer Removal.Insects · 2023Article
- Comparing Insect Predation by Birds and Insects in an Apple Orchard and Neighboring Unmanaged Habitat: Implications for Ecosystem Services.Animals : an open access journal from MDPI · 2023Article
- Predatory Abilities of Two Mediterranean Ants on the Eggs and Larvae of the Codling MothInsects · 2023Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
7 authors at 5 institutions in 3 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Environmental impacts of conventional agriculture have generated interest in sustainable agriculture. Biological pest control is a fundamental tool, and ants are key players providing ecological services, as well as some disservices. We have used a meta-analytical approach to investigate the contribution of ants to biological control, considering their effects on pest and natural enemy abundance, plant damage and crop yield. We also evaluated whether the effects of ants are modulated by traits of ants, pests and other natural enemies, as well as by field size, crop system and experiment duration. Overall (considering all meta-analyses), from 52 studies on 17 different crops, we found that ants decrease the abundance of non-honeydew-producing pests, decrease plant damage and increase crop yield (services). In addition, ants decrease the abundance of natural enemies, mainly the generalist ones, and increase honeydew-producing pest abundance (disservices). We show that the pest control and plant protection provided by ants are boosted in shaded crops compared to monocultures. Furthermore, ants increase crop yield in shaded crops, and this effect increases with time. Finally, we bring new insights such as the importance of shaded crops to ant services, providing a good tool for farmers and stakeholders considering sustainable farming practices.
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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.