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Ants and the City

Ants and the City. Can urban green spaces help preserve native ant metapopulations ?. 1.) I ntro to ant biology 2.) Why ants make good models for research/education 3.) UEI project b ackground/ methodology. Overview:. Ant Biology. 1.) Six legs

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Ants and the City

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  1. Ants and the City Can urban green spaces help preserve native ant metapopulations?

  2. 1.) Intro to ant biology 2.) Why ants make good models for research/education 3.) UEI project background/ methodology Overview:

  3. Ant Biology

  4. 1.) Six legs 2.) Three main body parts (head, thorax, abdomen) 3.) One pair of antennae 4.) Exoskeleton 5.) Two pairs of wings*** *** Only reproductive ants have wings Ants are insects

  5. 1.) Bent antenna 2.) Petiole 3.) Metapleural gland – secrets antibiotics What distinguishes Ants?

  6. Ants go through complete metamorphosis, from egg to larva to pupa to adult Ants are Holometabolis

  7. Ants are Social Insects

  8. Most extreme form of sociality where some individuals in a group can not reproduce Ants are Eusocial

  9. Ants Bees Wasps Termites Naked mole rats Very few examples of Eusociality in nature:

  10. Ant colony consists of a queen and her daughters- Males only produced once per year

  11. Ant colony consists of a queen and her daughters- Only the queen can reproduce

  12. ???? Ant colony consists of a queen and her daughters- Only the queen can reproduce

  13. In terms of natural selection, why would animals like worker ants evolve to be sterile? ??? Why do ant societies work?

  14. Ants Bees Wasps Termites Naked mole rats Very few examples of Eusociality in nature:

  15. Ants Bees Wasps Termites Naked mole rats Very few examples of Eusociality in nature:

  16. Ants Bees Wasps Termites Naked mole rats Order: Hymenoptera Very few examples of Eusociality in nature:

  17. In most diploid animals, both males and females have two sets of genes – one from each parent 50% 50% The answer is in the genes.. Brothers and Sisters are 50% related to each other

  18. Female ants have two sets of genes, but males only have one. 50% 100% Hymenoptera are Haplo-Diploid Sister ants are 75% related to each other

  19. Sisters are related by 75%, but mothers and daughters are only related by 50% So an ant does a better job of passing on her genes by raising sisters.

  20. An individual does not need to be ALIVE to pass on her genes, so she is more willing to sacrifice herself for her colony. This also why many ants, bees, and wasps are so aggressive…

  21. This reproductive division of labor allows for physical specialization not seen in human societies: Humans and other mammalian societies have behavioral specialization (different individuals do different tasks) but little to no matching physical specialization Soldier Farmer Infant Caregiver

  22. Ant societies can show extreme behavioral and physical specialization Selection mainly works at the level of the colony, not the individual, so individual ants can be highly specialized to help their colony (like the different parts of the same body) Soldier Farmer Brood Caregivers

  23. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RH3KYBMpxOU video on leafcutter ants

  24. Matching of Behavior and Morphology in Leafcutter Castes E.O. Wilson, 1980

  25. Army ant soldier caste: Specialized for defense against large vertebrates Other examples of extreme physical castes in ants:

  26. Honeypot Ant Repletes: Specialized for food storage in desert climates

  27. Trap-jaw ant hunters: Specialized for trapping fast moving prey Jaw movement is currently one of the faster animal movement known!

  28. http://www.berkeley.edu/news/media/releases/2006/08/21_ant_video.shtmlhttp://www.berkeley.edu/news/media/releases/2006/08/21_ant_video.shtml Video on trap jaw ants escape behavior

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