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Old McDonald had an Ant Farm: The Tunneling Behavior of Ants in Different Soils.

By: Kiley Clark, I’yana Cary, Elizabeth Putzig, and Stephanie Willis

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Did you Know?

Harvester ants can tunnel up to 15 feet down to establish a new colony
These ants are also poisonous and relatively large compared to other ants.

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Background

Idea came from previous studies
Red Harvester Ants
Previously lived in Soil or Wood

Students who were previously enrolled in the Biology 251 class, were interested in studying ants thermal tolerance by observing their behavior in cold vs. hot temperatures.
There was another experiment that investigated the effects of fluctuating soil moisture levels on the behaviors associated with underground nest building.

We got the idea from those two experiments and decided to study how their tunneling behaviors would change within different soil types.

Harvester Ants get their name from their behavior of collecting and harvesting seeds as their primary food source, which are stored in the nests within the communal chambers. They use their second stomachs to collect and transport the food

There are 22 species of harvester ants in the United States. The most common types are the California harvester ants, Florida harvester ants, and the Red harvester ants. All are located in the region that is west of Mississippi River expect the Florida harvester ants which can be found from Florida to North Carolina.
The Queen harvester ant can live up to 12 years because she doesn’t do as much, she only produces the harvester ants who can only live one to three months being that they are the ones doing the tunneling.

We obtained the ants from a company called Carolina Biological where they were living in soil and wood.

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Hypothesis

Null: Tunneling behaviors would be the same across all substrates.

Alternate: Tunneling behavior would be different for at least one substrate.

Prediction: The ants will dig more tunnels in the tunneling sand

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Experimental Design

Three substrates
9 ant farms
90 Harvester Ants

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Experimental Design

Checked on once a week
Recorded number and length of tunnels

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Results- Ant Survival

P-Value= 0.096082

F (2,6)= 3.55

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Results- Number of Tunnels

P-Value= .073250

F(2,6)=4.17

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Results- Length of Tunnels

P-Value= .831748

F(2,6)=0.19

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Results- Ratio of Tunnel Number to Length

P-Value= .669085

F(2,6)= .43

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New Tunnels Over 4 Weeks

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Discussion

CONCLUSIONS

Our null hypothesis was supported.
The ants acclimated to the various substrate types.

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Discussion

Gravish Nick, et.al. 2012.

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Discussion

Enzmann, B.L, Nonacs P. 2010.

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Espinoza D, Santamaria J. 2010.

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Discussion

Buhl Jerome, et.al. 2004.

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Discussion

Pitfalls

There may have been human error
Not enough replicates
Cost and time

Future Directions

Have more replicates of each substrate
We could potentially study the depth of their tunnels

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After Data Collection

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Questions?

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References

Gravish N, Garcia M, Mazouchova N, et. al. 2012. Effects of worker size on the dynamics of fire ant tunnel construction. Journal of the Royal Society Interface 9: 3312-3322.
Enzmann, B.L, Nonacs P. 2010. The Role of Colony Size on Tunnel Branching Morphogenesis in Ant. Insectes Sociaux 57: 115-123.
Espinoza D, Santamaria J. 2010. Ant Tunneling-a granular media perspective. Granular Matter.
Buhl Jerome, Gutrais Jacques, Deneubourg Jean-Louis, Theraulaz Guy. 2004. Nest excavation in ants: group size effects on the size and structure of tunneling networks. Naturwissenschaften 91:602–606.