Horticulture with Ants

The New York Times reported today that ants are vital agents in fertilizing the savanna. Based on field work in Kenya's central highland researchers found that plants and trees atop termite mounts thrived significantly better. Plants grow about 60 percent larger and trees bear 120 percent more fruit.

Termites have the unique ability to break down dead wood and make the nitrogen and phosphorous in the wood available as nutrients. Furthermore, their activities loosen the soil.

Imagine if we invited ants to our wastelands, spaced their nests appropriately, gave them some wood waste and then allowed the natural process to revigorate the soil. We might think about such a process where applying commercial fertilizer is not economical.

We could even imagine such an ant assisted process to present an alternative to commercial fertilizer to keep our forests healthy.