Australia’s scientists utilise ‘Age of Empires’ to tackle invasive ants

WEB DESK: In an innovative approach to combat invasive ant species, Australia’s national science agency Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) and the University of Western Australia have turned to the virtual world of Age of Empires.

Ants of Empires. 🐜

We used Age of Empires II to simulate the impact of environment complexity on warfare between native (Australian meat ant) and invasive ant (Argentine ant) species before testing these hypotheses in the real world. https://t.co/AAZM06V5re

— CSIRO (@CSIRO) October 4, 2023

According to media reports, the researchers, led by Samuel Lymbery, utilised the Age of Empires to simulate ant warfare, seeking insights into strategies that could aid native ant species in their struggle against invasive counterparts.

“Ants are one of the few groups of animal species in which warfare resembles human warfare, in terms of scale and mortality,” explained Dr Samuel Lymbery.

The research team built armies and diverse battlegrounds within the game, observing their interactions to map out potential real-world scenarios.

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“We formed small groups of strong soldiers, and we opposed them to increasingly larger groups of weaker soldiers,” said Dr Lymbery.

However, he noted that despite the use of a computer game, the process was far from entertaining. “This is probably the most boring way to play a video game,” he added.

Meanwhile, focusing on the large, native Australian meat ants and the small, non-native Argentine ants, the study revealed that small armies of strong soldiers performed better in complex terrain-based battlefields, while large armies of weaker soldiers fared better in simpler, open battlefields.

The researchers then conducted laboratory experiments with real ants to validate the models derived from the game simulations. Dr Lymbery underscored that the method helps identify commonalities and differences between the simple models and the more complex real-world scenarios.

In applying these findings to practical conservation efforts, Dr Lymbery suggests that habitat management strategies, such as reintroducing undergrowth or increasing environmental complexity, could tilt the competitive balance in favor of native ants. For instance, adding undergrowth could be crucial in environments resembling bushland strips with undergrowth, small bushes, and woody debris.

Australia grapples with the challenge of 50 different invasive ant species, including electric ants, fire ants, and yellow crazy ants. Invasive Species Council principal policy analyst Carol Booth acknowledged that ants pose a significant invasive species problem in the country, with hundreds of millions of dollars spent nationally on eradication efforts.

Despite the complexity of addressing invasive ant populations, Dr Booth highlighted Australia’s position as a world leader in invasive ant eradication. However, she stressed the need to enhance biosecurity measures and invest in research for a deeper understanding of ant invasions and the development of new control methods.

Although Dr Lymbery’s research focuses on one type of invasive species, he sees the potential for broader applications across various species. “It opens up a potential avenue that we should explore for management across more species,” he concluded.