Can ants predict the weather?

Have you ever experienced ant mounds appearing on your lawn en masse and wondered why that happens? Well it could be explained by the capacity for ants to predict a change in weather!

There is lots of chatter around the internet asking the question of whether Ants can predict imminent rain. While on ABC talkback radio a few weeks back, a caller rang in asked why a large number of ant mounds had sprung up overnight on her back lawn. She was surprised that so many had appeared so quickly. Ironically, it did rain later that day and into the night which raised the question - did the ants know what was coming and and then prepare their nests with mounds?

Some say that ants can sense drops in barometric pressure better than humans and respond with mound building behaviour. Others say that there is no scientific evidence to back that up.

Wayne Robinson is a lecturer in Environmental Science and he's completing a PHD on ant behaviour at Charles Sturt University in Albury. In particular, Wayne is studying introduced species on Fraser Island, such as the Big Headed Ant from Africa.

"I've been looking at how those ants are interacting with native ants and whether they're a threat to biodiversity, and despite the persistent rumours, there's no evidence to show that ants can predict rain."  however he goes on to say that while there isn't any scientific research to back this up either way,  it is known that ants behave a certain way before, during and after rain. 

Kristen Messenger from Bugs and Slugs (Bugs n Slugs are a South Australian organisation dedicated to the conservation and promotion of invertebrate animals such as insects, spiders, lobsters, worms and snails) agrees that there is enough anecdotal evidence to suggest that ants change their behaviour in response to changes in weather patterns. She says that they monitor the humidity and temperature in their nests and when this changes, they do all they can to regulate these variables with activities such as mound building.  Further to this, research has shown that in some environments,  ants will build these mounds from materials that have the best chance of maintaining thermal properties in the nest. This means that during the cooler months they built nests from dark coloured materials and then in the summer, they use light coloured materials.  

Ants really are amazing insects. They are seen in many cases as “bio indicators”. Scientists often use them as a means to test the health of an ecosystem. In other words, the presence of ants can equal a healthy environment. Ants naturally aerate the soil with their network of tunnels and they don’t actually damage lawns like black beetles and their larvae do. They break down organic material on the soil surface and act as a food source to other fauna like birds and lizards.

So next time you see ant mounds appearing in your lawn, spare a thought for these industrious little critters and then look to the heavens - there is probably a change in weather coming!