ABSTRACT
The harvester ants are species that rely primarily on seeds as their food source. This chapter focuses on the ecology and management of harvester ants in the shortgrass plains, particularly the western harvester ant, Pogonomyrmex occidentalis. The western harvester ant is particularly abundant within the shortgrass ecosystem, and is reported to have the most consistent impact on rangeland of any insect other than grasshoppers. Western harvester ants collect and store large numbers of seeds. Seeds are foraged from the area surrounding the nest and are carried into the mound, where the husks are removed and then taken out of the mound to a midden pile at the edge of the cleared disc. Relatively few attempts have been made to assess quantitatively the amount of seed used by the ants or the impact of seed removal on the surrounding community.
