Seed dispersal is a fundamental life history stage for plants, influencing plant population growth and distribution, and structuring plant communities. Many plants enlist the help of animals to distribute their seeds, and understanding animal-seed interactions are essential for uncovering drivers of patterns in plant communities. Though far less conspicuous than vertebrate seed-dispersers, ants are one of the major groups of seed-dispersing animals. Seed dispersal by ants is a widespread interaction, with ants being the primary dispersers in a range of ecosystems and for thousands of plant species. Ant-seed interactions range from antagonistic to mutualistic, with dispersal resulting from both failed predation by granivorous ants or mutualistic interactions with omnivorous ants (myrmecochory) that forage for seeds with specialized food bodies (elaiosomes) that they remove and consume before “planting” seeds. The goal of this session is to bring together researchers who are working at the forefront of ant-mediated seed dispersal research. Invited speakers are conducting innovative research by taking integrative approaches and by working at large spatial scales to understand mechanisms driving these interactions, and how these interactions affect patterns in plant distributions and communities. The speakers will present research that is contributing to answering a variety of outstanding questions in this functionally important interaction. These topics include uncovering mechanisms that govern ant-seed interactions, measuring the benefits of interactions to ants and plants, and uncovering how outcomes of interactions change in a variety of abiotic and biotic contexts – including under anthropogenic change.