"Ants and termites have a significant positive impact on crop yields in dryland agriculture, according to a paper published in the journal 'Nature Communications' by scientists at CSIRO and the University of Sydney.

'Ants and termites perform the same ecosystem service functions in dryland agriculture that earthworms perform in cooler and wetter areas, but the potential for ants and termites to provide these benefits has received little attention until now,' said CSIRO's Dr Theo Evans.

'We already knew that the activities of ants and termites affect soil structure, aeration, water infiltration and nutrient cycling in natural ecosystems but we wondered whether they also perform these services in agricultural landscapes.'"

SPX had the story March 31, 2011. [2]