Interaction between ants and vegetation Public Lecture by Professor Erik Arndt (Anhalt University of Applied Sciences) Wednesday, 29 May 2013 at 1800 NBRR, Department of Biology University of Malta Attendance is free of charge. Anybody wishing to attend is kindly asked to contact Ms Michaela Stivala, at the Department of Biology, University of Malta. Tel: 2340 2272 Email: michaela.stivala@um.edu.mt Interaction between ants (Formicidae) and vegetation: a Mediterranean case study Ants are ecosystem engineers or keystone species in meadow ecosystems, tropical rain forests, temperate deciduous forests and also in Mediterranean‐type ecosystems. Myrmecochory, the distribution of seeds by ants, is a common and global phenomenon. Ants are obligatory distributors of seeds in some 40% of geophytic herbs in European as well as in North American deciduous forests. A total of ca 30% and ca 29% of plants in the Mediterranean‐climate regions of South Africa and Australia, respectively, are distributed by ants. The presentation will describe how a complex of Mediterranean habitats in Greece was studied in order to estimate the influence of ants on the floristic composition and it resulted that up to 80% of the plant species may benefit from ants in one way or another. However, the proportion of obligatory myrmecochorous plants was low. The presentation will also give a short introduction to ant morphology and systematics.