A. Ants
With over 12, 000 described species, ants, from the family Formicidae, are the most diverse of all social insects. They occupy “virtually all major terrestrial habitats” displaying a “remarkable range of social behaviors, foraging habits and associations” with other organisms (Bolton et al, 2006; as cited in Ward, 2007).
A. 1. Ant’s social organization and feeding habits
Typically ants include three castes: winged, fertile, and females or queens; wingless, infertile females or workers; and winged male. Those ordinarily seen are workers. In some colonies ants of the worker type may become soldiers or members of other specialized castes. (The Columbia Encyclopedia, 2004)
Different species differ widely in their duties and may be carnivorous, herbivorous, or omnivorous. Members of some species eat honeydew from plants infested with aphids and certain other insects; others called dairying ants, feed and protect the aphids ad “milk” them by stroking. Harvester ants eat and store seeds; these sometimes spout around the nest, leading to the erroneous belief that these ants cultivate food.
(The Columbia Encyclopedia, 2004)
A. 2. Reproduction and population
Scientists from CNRS found that colonies in tropical forests tend to produce numerous, low-quality queens. In contrast, colonies in the temperate forests tend to produce less, high-quality queens. In addition, they found that if independent foundation of new colonies becomes ineffective, colonies multiply by splitting up the group. (CRNS, 2008)
The red imported fire ant, Solenopsis invicta, is a very invasive pest in Southern U.S.A. and in all parts of the world. Scientists determined the arrival of these ants is by the unloading of cargos at the port of Mobile, Ala i...
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...e honeybees.
D. Ants as bio-indicators
In terms of numerical abundance, size and species richness, ants are a prominent group in many terrestrial ecosystems. Ants also occupy higher tropic levels and often used specialized niches; suggest that they may be good bio-indicator of various environmental parameters (Majer, 1983).
Touyama (2002) revealed that hypogeal ants were useful and convenient bio indicators of soil faunal richness, based on the data obtained in Hiroshima Prefecture. Ant species richness significantly correlated with three soil faunal variables: number of orders, degree of nature richness and abundance in lower-altitudinal area. In higher-altitudinal area, however, there were not obvious pattern between ant species’ richness and soil faunal variables. Careful use of ants as bio indicator can economize our sampling effort and time.
The inspiring documentary film, E.O. Wilson—Of Ants and Men, showcases biologist Edward Osborne Wilson’s passion for preserving the biodiversity of our natural world. E.O. Wilson not only values the fascinating creatures (particularly ants) that he comes across during his research and in his daily life, but he also takes action and participates in the Gorongosa Restoration Project at Gorongosa National Park in Mozambique, Africa. The destruction of Gorongosa demonstrates the call for us—Homo sapiens—to realize how critical it is to concern ourselves with protecting the very ecosystems that have molded us into the complex species that we are; according to E.O. Wilson, “We adapted over millions of years to wild environments…We really need them” (CITE?). The better effort we make to understand that we are a part of this large, interdependent ecological community, the better equipped we become in not only being
The ants of the colony can be seen as beings who have had their “individuality and personhood” trampled because of the grasshop...
But the ants that showed up at our experiment were total morons. You'd watch one, and it would sprint up to a Cocoa Krispie, and then stop suddenly, as if saying: "Yikes! Compared with me, this Cocoa Krispie is the size of a Buick!" then it would sprint off in a random direction. Sometimes it would sprint back; sometimes it would sprint to another Cocoa Krispie and act surprised again. but it never seemed to do anything. There were thousands of ants behaving this way, and every single time two of them met, they'd both stop and exchange "high-fives" with their antennas, along with, I assume, some kind of ant pleasantries ("Hi Bob! "No, I'm Bill!" "Sorry! You look just like Bob!"). This was repeated millions of times. I watched these ants for two days, and they accomplished nothing. It was exactly like highway construction. It wouldn't have surprised me if some ants started waving orange flags to direct other insects around the area.
Matson Museum of Antropology. Penn State college of Liberal Arts. 2011. 1 Aug 2011 .
Apis mellifera, commonly known as the European or western honey bee is a eusocial insect. Eusociality is a term used to describe living in cooperative groups in which one female and several males are reproductively active (Winston, 1981). All the non-breeding individuals of the group care for the young or protect and provide for the whole group. With these insects practicing eusociality, their hives contain one queen, a fertile female, who has all the offspring in the colony. The hive contains a few drones, males, to mate with the queen. Also, the hive contains thousands of workers, infertile females, whose duties include keeping the hive clean, building the wax combs of the hive, tending the young, and foraging for food (Engel, 2001). Honey bees need to communicate within their colonies to perform all these tasks.
...ant is so rapid in growth that it would cause the United States to only be forty states if there wasn't a winter season. (Hower)
Arnett, Ross H. American Insects A Handbook of the insects of America north of Mexico. New York: Van Nostrand Reinhold Company, 1975.
The year is 2200 and the world has been officially declared as being devoid of all insect life. A combination of extreme climate change, chemical warfare and general environmental degradation has resulted in a mass die out of the entire insect population. Unsurprisingly this has had a major effect on all other forms of life ranging from aquatic to terrestrial. Some species have experienced a significant decline in population size and others have had to completely adapt new behaviors to survive. However, there are some that have largely benefitted from this insect free world.
The ongoing studies in Great Britain covered the biodiversity (that is the amount of species of an organism within a given area) and the amount of land the plants, birds, and butterflies each occupied. It covered 1254 species of plants studied from 1954 to 1960 and again from 1987 to 1999, 201 bird species studied between 1968 and 1971 and again from 1988 to 1989, and 58 butterfly species studied between 1970 and 1982 and again between 1995 and 1999 (Thomas et al. 2004). Before this study there was only speculation into the possible population decline of insects. Since they are so abundant it had been hard to get any grasp on their actual number or the effect humans were having on them (Pennisi 2004).
Most of the species from habitat one are Diptera. There was a total of thirteen Diptera’s in habitat one. Cup one had the least amount of individual species with four. Habitat two had more individual species than habitat one. There was a total of seventy-nine species from habitat two. Like in habitat one most of of the arthropods from habitat two were Diptera. The was a total of eighteen Diptera’s in habitat two. Cup six had most of the Diptera’s with thirteen. Orthoptera was second in the number of individuals with sixteen. Orthoporea’s are crickets and
Insects are the most diverse group of organisms on the planet. They occupy most of the habitat in the world. Insects have served as a model group of organisms for tackling many biological queries. Butterflies (Class: Insecta; Order: Lepidoptera) have been used as a model for studies on ecology, development and population dynamics. Most of the species are highly seasonal and some have very restricted habitats. Butterflies are good indicators of climate and help us understand fluctuations in seasonal changes. They require specific ecological conditions for their growth and development. Monitoring butterflies helps us understand the overall diversity of a habitat as they are directly dependent on other factors such as availability of host plants and nectar plants. They also play a very significant role in
The queen is much larger than the other ants, and has wings until mating. Her
Ant like insects have been inhabiting this world for over 130 million years, evolving into the insects that we recognize today from their wasp-like ancestors. Ants are one of the planet’s most successful insect species at adaptability and have even been referred to as super-organisms. Their adaptive success is due to their hive-mind like structure. This hive-mind like structure allows ants to not only defend themselves effectively from predators but it also allows them to exploit resources and modify their habitats efficiently. Ants inhabit almost every land mass on the planet with an estimated 12,500 discovered species. (Dvorsky 2012)
Have you ever seen an ant smile? Have you swapped stories with an ant over a warm cup of cocoa? Do the ants that live by the Great Pyramids or by the Taj Mahal appreciate these wondrous monuments? Do they feel sympathy for the victims at the World Trade Center? No. My little friends just continue to walk around aimlessly. They are born in obscurity and they die in obscurity.
Seventh, in some groups of insects, truly social behavior has evolved. Social behavior will allow a large population to survive through difficult periods via cooperation in food gathering, food storage, temperature control, and colony