which of them is correct ?
Despite the appearance of being merely pests, ants can serve a garden by eliminating other bothersome insects and--------------------
1) they can aerate the soil
2) aerating the soil

we have verb+ing before of And. we have to use verb+ing after that ?

Question

which of them is correct ?
Despite the appearance of being merely pests, ants can serve a garden by eliminating other bothersome insects and--------------------
1) they can aerate the soil
2) aerating the soil

we have verb+ing before of And. we have to use verb+ing after that ?

Answer

You do not have to, but #2 is good style to maintain symmetry. If you use #1, you create a compound sentence so it would be better to place a comma after "insects".