https://www.sciencem...lant-wildflower
Nice article about ants' seed dispersal contributions to plant diversity, and the need for nesting sites.
Specifically calls out Aphaenogaster.
'Even in areas cleared decades ago, her team found higher concentrations of invasive earthworms and lower concentrations of seed-dispersing ants than in forests that were never cleared. Earthworms break down fallen leaves and organic debris, possibly leaving too little cover for ants. “This suggests that there are huge impacts of past land use that probably run deeper than we previously suspected,” Stuble says. Those impacts could explain why secondary forests lack dense undergrowth, and why plants that rely on ants to disperse their seeds are scarce there.'
