sustainability Review Ants: Major Functional Elements in Fruit Agro-Ecosystems and Biological Control Agents Lamine Diamé 1,2,*, Jean-Yves Rey 1,3,6, Jean-François Vayssières 3,6, Isabelle Grechi 4,6, Anaïs Chailleux 3,5,6 ID and Karamoko Diarra 2 1 Institut Sénégalais de Recherches Agricoles, Centre pour le Développement de l’Horticulture, BP 3120 Dakar, Senegal;
[email protected] 2 Université Cheikh Anta Diop de Dakar, BP 7925 Dakar, Senegal;
[email protected] 3 Centre de Coopération Internationale de Recherche Agronomique pour le Développement, UPR HortSys, F-34398 Montpellier, France; jean-franç
[email protected] (J.F.V.);
[email protected] (A.C.) 4 Centre de Coopération Internationale de Recherche Agronomique pour le Développement, UPR HortSys, F-97455 Saint-Pierre, La Réunion, France;
[email protected] 5 Biopass, Institut Sénégalais de Recherches Agricoles—University Cheikh Anta Diop de Dakar—Institut de Recherche pour le Développement, BP 2274 Dakar, Senegal 6 University de Montpellier, Centre de Coopération Internationale de Recherche Agronomique pour le Développement, HortSys, F-34398 Montpellier, France * Correspondence:
[email protected] Received: 15 October 2017; Accepted: 12 December 2017; Published: 22 December 2017 Abstract: Ants are a very diverse taxonomic group. They display remarkable social organization that has enabled them to be ubiquitous throughout the world. They make up approximately 10% of the world’s animal biomass. Ants provide ecosystem services in agrosystems by playing a major role in plant pollination, soil bioturbation, bioindication, and the regulation of crop-damaging insects. Over recent decades, there have been numerous studies in ant ecology and the focus on tree cropping systems has given added importance to ant ecology knowledge.