Ant Responses To Climate Change: From Individuals To Ecosystem Services

Ecosystems worldwide are facing increasing threats from climate change, and it is important to understand their impacts on key organisms. Ants are one of the most ubiquitous, widespread, and abundant groups of animals on earth, providing a variety of basic and vital ecological services.
 
Although there is increasing knowledge about the effects of climate change on ants, this information is scattered and we are still far from a global understanding of its consequences for ant communities and their provision of ecosystem services. We have even less of a mechanistic understanding of how and why some species and communities are more vulnerable or resilient than others. This book synthesizes the latest findings about the effect of climate change on ants addressing different level of ecological organizations, from individuals to ecosystem services relating to interactions between ants and plants.

Inara R. Leal - Graduated in Biology (1990) from the Federal University of Santa Catarina (Brazil), with an MSc (1994) and PhD (1998) in Ecology from the State University of Campinas (Brazil), and postdoctoral research at the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (Australia) in 2010 and 2014. Since 2002, has been a professor at the Federal University of Pernambuco (Brazil), advising undergraduate students in Biology and Environmental Sciences and postgraduate students in Plant Biology and Animal Biology. In the Atlantic Forest, she has investigated how habitat loss and fragmentation reshape insect communities (including ants, butterflies, dung beetles, and termites), lead to the proliferation of herbivores—particularly leaf-cutting ants—and simplify other plant-ant interactions. In the Caatinga, her work explores the effects of both acute (e.g., slash-and-burn agriculture) and chronic (e.g., livestock raising, firewood collection, and non-timber forest product exploitation) disturbances and climate change (e.g., increasing aridity) on the taxonomic, phylogenetic, and functional organization of plant and animal communities and on ecosystem services provided by ants. Professor Leal is the author or editor of 13 books, more than 50 book chapters, and over 170 scientific publications, with an h-index of 57 and approximately 12,000 career citations.

Fernanda M. P. Oliveira - Graduated in Biology (2010) from the State University of Ceará (Brazil), with an MSc in Animal Biology (2012) and a PhD in Plant Biology (2018) from the Federal University of Pernambuco (Brazil), including a research period at the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) – Tropical Ecosystems Research Centre (Australia). Since 2024, she has been a professor at the Federal University of Pernambuco (Brazil), advising undergraduate students in Biology and Environmental Sciences and postgraduate students in Plant Biology and Animal Biology. She also studies how these components recover over time through ecological succession. Professor Oliveira is the author/editor of three books, 23 book chapters, and 27 scientific publications, with an h-index of 10 and approximately 370 career citations.

Xavi Arnan - Graduated in Biology (2001), with an MSc in Biology (2004) and a PhD in Ecology (2006) from the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (UAB, Spain). He held postdoctoral positions in Spain (UAB and the Centre de Recerca Ecològica i Aplicacions Forestals – CREAF, 2006–2011), Australia (Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation, 2008 and 2009), Germany (Technical University of Darmstadt, 2012–2013), and Brazil (Federal University of Pernambuco, 2014–2017). From May 2017 to January 2020, he served as a Ramón y Cajal staff researcher at CREAF. Since January 2020, he has been a professor at the University of Pernambuco (Brazil). Professor Arnan is the author of 108 scientific publications, with an h-index of 33 and 3,568 career citations.

Alan N. Andersen - Graduated with a BSc (Hons) from Monash University in 1980, and PhD in ecology at the University of Melbourne in 1985. Currently Professor of Research Excellence and Impact in Charles Darwin University’s (CDU) Office of Research and Innovation, and Professor of Terrestrial Invertebrates in CDU’s Research Institute for the Environment and Livelihoods (Australia). Professor Andersen was previously a Chief Research Scientist with CSIRO Land & Water, and head of CSIRO’s Tropical Ecosystems Research Centre in Darwin from 1995 to 2016. Professor Andersen is the author of five books and 300 scientific publications, with an h-index of 80 and >23,000 career citations. He is a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Science.