Current understanding of ant-plant interactions in agroecosystems

Ants rank among the most ubiquitous and ecologically dominant terrestrial animals on Earth. In both natural and agricultural systems, ants act as predators that often have complex effects on insect communities by either providing costs or benefits to both pest species and host plants. We propose to comprehensively review the ecology of ants in agroecosystems. We will examine in depth the factors contributing to the fitness costs and benefits ants have on agricultural systems. By including a breadth of studies from a wide range of cropping systems and climate regions, our review will identify patterns in the ecological consequences of ants. We will use the determined patterns to broadly discuss the management implications for ants in agroecosystems which is critical due to changing pesticide regulations. This review poster will not only provide a synthesis of a broad set of ecological interactions and thus, be applicable to ecologists, it will also be useful to entomologists that study arthropod interactions in managed ecosystems as well as agricultural stakeholders.