About This Project

As urban areas keep spreading in tropical Asia, global hotspots of biodiversity will undergo severe habitat changes. However, cities like Macau, one of the most heavily populated urban area, might still host important communities of insects like ants, several of them unknown to science. Recently I published a checklist of Macau ants, but more unknown species are expected to be found which will be the focus of this project. Overall, this will increase our knowledge on ant diversity in Asia.

Ask the Scientists

What is the context of this research?

Ants are considered keystone species in ecology and represent about 15% of the animal biomass within tropical ecosystems, reflecting environment quality. Although ants are distributed globally, taxonomic knowledge is still limited, in particular within continental Asia. In 2017, I published two studies on Macanese ants showing how diverse those were, how limited our current knowledge is and pointing some threats on this remarkable fauna. With only 30.4 km2, Macau host at least 113 ant species, some of them new to science, like the rare and cryptic Leptanilla macauensis. Unfortunately, my study also identified several invasive ants now threatening natural habitats. My aim is to describe the Macanese ant fauna, while sharing these discoveries through public education.

What is the significance of this project?

Over the past three years, my work allowed us to increase the known Macanese ant species count from 54 to 113 species! Several species are newly recorded and new species to science. For the first time, we collected invasive species introduced through human activities.

This was the beginning of my scientific journey but the road is still long before all species living in Macau can be found and other undescribed species named. It is important to survey current species to offer a baseline for future work, in particular to identify the presence of invasive ants and their impacts on local biodiversity. The characterization of local diversity and the discovery of rare species should also guide decisions on the protection of the natural environment threatened by increasing urban development.

What are the goals of the project?

My first and most immediate goal is to sample ants for three months in Macau, focusing on areas and habitats unexplored at this point. The characterization of the local ant fauna from my preliminary survey is still incomplete due to limited sampling period. In the future, I plan to use new and standardized sampling methods to characterize local communities and collect species undetected thus far. Secondly, during this season I will monitor the spread of invasive species and the impacts of the fire ants, yellow crazy ant and black crazy ant on native communities. Finally, I will communicate my results and passion for insects to the public through a series of talks in primary and middle schools in Macau to raise awareness on biodiversity and the importance of its conservation.