The purpose of the study is to investigate the differences in behavior in urban and natural populations of Massachusetts ants. One species of interest is Tapinoma sessile, which are widespread, native to North America, and have recently become invasive in Hawaii. Urban and natural populations of this species exhibit remarkable colony level differences, and the urban colonies exhibit traits similar to the invasive
ones (ex. supercolony formation). However, behavioral differences that may lead to the different social structure and potentially invasion success remain understudied. I would like to collect both natural and urban habitat populations of T. sessile to take to a lab and run collective behavior assays on, including a few colonies from Harvard Forest as a more 'natural' site. Also, I would like to collect colonies of Myrmica rubra and Tetramorium immigrans if I can find them, to see if there’s any differences in the urban and natural habitat colonies of these introduced species that have since become widespread.