A research study published on September 19th in the scientific journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) found that there are 20 quadrillion ants on Earth. The estimate is four times higher than that indicated by biologist Edward Osborne Wilson in a 1990s survey, one of the most accepted to this day.

This means that, currently, there are about 2.5 million ants for each person in the world. This is because according to the website Our World in Data, the Earth has close to 8 billion inhabitants today.

Researchers arrived at an estimate of 20 quadrillion ants by combining data from 489 studies from various countries to determine the approximate weight of all the ants in the world together. Based on this, they calculated how many of these animals were needed to reach the predicted weight.

According to the authors, the high number of ants is not a cause for concern. Ants are beneficial to the balance of nature and must be preserved. For example: ants open small “paths” in the ground and help seeds land in these places so they can sprout more easily.

They also serve as food for various animals, including some birds. There is also a species, the carpenter ant, that feeds on dead wood, which helps “cleanse” forests of this material.

For these reasons, reducing the number of ants or eliminating them from nature would result in a major imbalance in the environment.

Questions

1) How many ants in the world  are there per person?

a) 20 quadrillion

b) 8 billion

c) 2.5 million

d) 489

2) What do you think could be done to preserve ants?

Sources: Estadão, F5, Our World in Data and Pnas

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