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Harvard Forest REU Symposium Abstract 2018

  • Title: Reidentification of the Aphaenogaster
  • Author: Monica Velasco (California Baptist University)
  • Abstract:

    The genus Aphaenogaster has been a subject of scientific debate over its different species since the 1990’s. Previously, many scientists had problems distinguishing the species A. picea, A. fulva, and A. rudis: the best method to distinguish among them is by looking at the karyotype of one of their eukaryotic cells. The problem with karyotyping is that it is inefficient with large number of specimens, so scientists have been looking at better ways to identify ants using morphology. A general survey conducted in 2007 collected ants from all over Massachusetts in the attempt to provide a baseline for future studies on climate change. Ant collection can reveal trends in climate change because ants serve as bioindicators of environments: certain ants will be found in areas depending on factors like humidity, temperature, and soil composition. Because this survey identified ants before more accurate practices looking at morphology came to place, most A. picea and A. fulva were identified as A. rudis. This is a problem because all these ants, despite being closely related, tell us different things about climate. For this reason, I gathered the ants from 2007 and reevaluated them. 40% of the ants analyzed were picea, 24% were fulva, and 25% of the vials were either empty or not found. 8 vials had the genus misclassified as Myrmica and the other 9% of the vials are still being investigated. Doing this reevaluation is imperative to conducting proper research on climate change and other future experiments.

  • Research Category: Biodiversity Studies