On September 19, in the Uzkoye district, near Profsoyuznaya Street, the fencing work was carried out by Stroitelny Trest-12, a company that carries out repairs on the street. The installation of the fencing was supervised by myrmecologist Danila Nikolaevich Goryunov from the A.N. Severtsov Institute of Ecology and Evolution of the Russian Academy of Sciences (IEE RAS) and Nadezhda Andreyevna Smirnova, a representative of the Moscow Department of Nature Management and Environmental Protection.
These anthills are a unique example of how even in a huge metropolis, next to a major highway, vulnerable species can be preserved with careful management. Ants have lived here since the 1960s, and possibly even earlier. Red wood ants are key forest health workers, controlling pest populations. However, within the Moscow Ring Road, they have almost completely disappeared and are listed in the Moscow Red Book under the highest category of rarity (1), and for the New Moscow Administrative Okrug, they are listed as 2.
This year, the ants were attacked by vandals. Whole nests were destroyed, leaving populations in danger of dying out. Fences around the largest and most visible nests will protect the most vulnerable areas with high ant density, where most ants are killed by passersby. Fencing and explanatory signs will show forest visitors that ants are very important and are under state protection.
Photo by N.A. Smirnova