Gary J. Skinner & Andrew P. Jarman
At 327 pages, and with a size and weight that fits easily into a backpack, Ants finds an impressive balance between richness of content and portability. The book is beautifully illustrated with countless colour photographs, and features clear, accessible figures and tables highlighting the fascinating diversity of traits across ant species. While the primary focus is on ants found in the UK, the detailed exploration of their biology and lifestyles offers insights that extend far beyond.
I was excited to be asked to review this book as I have been intending to buy a field guide to the ants of the British Isles for some time. Although I work with ants in the context of comparative research on insect social evolution, my skills in ant field identification leave much to be desired (a bit embarrassing, considering that I like to think of myself as an otherwise decent naturalist). What I didn’t expect was that Ants would go far beyond the scope of a regular field guide. The more I read, the more I liked it. It’s engaging, informative, and I think it has something to offer for all levels of reader. You don’t have to be interested in ants to buy this book. In fact, if you’re not then that’s even more reason to get it, because it might just change your mind!
The authors cover topics such as ant evolution, taxonomy, nesting habits, ecological impacts, interspecies associations, distribution, conservation, identification and much more. Below I summarise each of the chapters:
In Chapter 1, the authors begin with an introduction to ants, summarising their evolution and taxonomy, illustrated by a streamlined phylogeny. I was pleasantly surprised to encounter the section on the social evolution of ants and impressed by a well-researched and succinct summary of key factors in the evolution of social behaviour. Any terminology that may be unclear is defined and explained in the margins of the pages.
In Chapter 2, we are led through the general biology of ants, which was an especially enjoyable read, with many beautiful photographs, describing and illustrating the wonderful variation in nesting habits. This moved into ant reproduction, including a table summarising the mating habits and colony foundation of ants in Britain – very exciting if like me you work in comparative research, or maybe just want a good overview of ant biology. This chapter also details division of labour, feeding, and foraging behaviours.
In Chapter 3, we are met with a cornucopia of interesting information on ants and their associates. It begins by highlighting the many ways that ants interact with, and manipulate, plants and then guides the reader through the different classes of arthropod that can be found in association with ants. I learnt that these are the synechthrans (myrmecophiles treated with hostility), synoeketes (scavengers living in association with ants that ignore them), symphiles (true guests, accepted as part of the colony and even fed by the ants), parasites or parasitoids (including larvae of several very beautiful blue lycaenid butterflies), or trophobionts (insects whose secretions are consumed by the ants, who guard them in return). This chapter also details very interesting interactions among ant species, including slave-making and other forms of social parasitism, highlighting those found in the UK. I particularly liked how, throughout the book, the authors give a general description of interesting characteristics or lifestyles, and then relate them back to British species and environments. This chapter finishes by summarising the relationships between ants and their abiotic environment, crediting them as the important ecosystem engineers that they are. I did think this last section was quite short.
Chapter 4 contains a series of species profiles, a two-page spread each, with distribution maps for each, along with specimen photos, the size ranges of queens, workers and males, and their flight season. The distribution maps are even colour-coded by the year of the record, so viewers can easily see how up to date each location is.
In Chapter 5, the authors cover factors known to threaten ant abundance or diversity, giving specific examples within the UK. They introduce ecological mismanagement and the consequences in terms of habitat loss, as well as the impacts of non-native species introduced through human activity and the predicted effects of climate change. It then walks the reader through priority species and their specific conservation challenges.
Chapter 6 provides technical keys for identifying all species of ant that are native to the British Isles. If you are daunted by that, they also provide quick and beginner-friendly keys for identification of the workers or nests of common or distinctive British and Irish species. This chapter also details taxonomic reclassifications of species, summarising name changes in a helpful table.
In Chapter 7, you can find a great source of advice on how to study ants, beginning with how to record or collect them, including sampling methods and specimen preservation techniques, and then an introduction to cultivating colonies of ants in captivity.
The book finishes with Chapters 8 and 9, which provide useful resources for all ant-related pursuits as well as many suggestions for further reading.
