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Harvard Forest REU Symposium Abstract 2014

  • Title: How far does an ant travel? A study case of Aphaenogaster picea in Western Massachusetts, U.S.A.
  • Author: Ariel C Reis (Saint Michael's College)
  • Abstract:

    Ants (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) occur worldwide, and have many ecological roles. Although ant foraging behavior has been well-studied, there are scant data on how far ants will actually forage, even though these data are needed to define sampling scales (e.g., spacing between adjacent pitfall traps). In order to determine an appropriate sampling distance, I examined foraging distances of the ant Aphaenogaster picea in a hemlock-dominated forest in Petersham, Massachusetts. I used cookie baits to attract A. picea and measured: distances traveled from nest to baits; time taken for a scout to find the bait; mean number of ants per bait; and quantity of bait removed. Ten of 11 nests located baits placed 2 meters from nests, but none located baits placed three meters from nests. Grids of baits attracted ants from nests 0.65 – 3.15 m from the closest bait. Most nests located the baits within 30 minutes, but some were not located for 3 hours. The distance of the nest from the food resource explained 0.6% of the variance in recruitment to the bait, and 12% of the variance in the amount of food carried back to the nest. Based on these results, a minimum of 3-m spacing between pitfall traps seems adequate for sampling A. picea, and perhaps other small-bodied ants. In addition, baits should remain available for up to three hours to increase probability of attraction and capture of these forest ants.

  • Research Category: Biodiversity Studies

  • Figures:
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