Abstract
Ants are common and usually ignored members of forest communities, yet their activities affect forests in many ways. Their nesting in soil aids soil aeration, movement of soil particles to the surface, accumulation and breakdown of organic matter, and nutrient recycling (Petal 1978). Ants influence vegetation patterns by dispersing seed while foraging, and by creating favorable or unfavorable microhabitats for plant growth near ant mounds. Ant foraging, whether for plant or animal material, can affect both the population dynamics and the distribution of species commonly included in the ants' diet. Although ants feed on a wide range of organic material, my discussion is confined to those ant species that habitually prey on other insects—species that can play an important role in the biological control of forest insect pests.
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