[Stefanb (OP)]

After reading multiple articles and watching some BBC videos on YouTube, I began to wonder if we could wipe out ants if we had to...

And would we be able to do so without majorly affecting the environment?

[Don_1]

Ants are a very prolific species. At a guess I would say they probably outnumber man to the tune of 1m to 1. They are extremely successful and, as anyone with ant problems will tell you, a bugger to get rid of.

No, you would never be able to wipe out even a single species of ant, and yes, the loss of ants would have an enormous effect on the environment.

They are good cleaners, help to keep down the termite population (and other insects), protect plants and even trees.

[lyner]

You wipe out ants at your peril!

[LeeE]

You wipe out ants at your peril!

Indeed - we'd be in an awful lot of trouble without them.

[lyner]

Who'd pick up all the spilled grains of sugar, for instance?

[LeeE]

Quite - we would all soon be up to our armpits in spilled sugar and everyone would die.

[glovesforfoxes]

i'm curious, Stefanb. which videos did you watch on youtube? could you post links to them here?

Quite - we would all soon be up to our armpits in spilled sugar and everyone would die.

fantastic []

[Stefanb (OP)]

sure just let me dig through my history...

first

second

third
and

last...

I have nightmares about ants invading my home!

[Stefanb (OP)]

But I never thought about the sugar...
Maybe I could feed it all to my yeast!  []