Foraging Behavior

Using ants to explore ecology

Foraging behaviors

Organisms should have behaviors which minimize – Search for food– Food handling

• Ants are insects

• Six legs

• 3 body parts– Head, Thorax and

Abdomen

Mandibles

Chemical sensors/communication

• Ants have more than 20 different chemicals they can use for sending information to one another

Leaf cutter ants have enlarged heads for leaf cutting

Queen Ant

Males for mating only

Female Workers

Examples of Ant foraging

• Symbiotic/mutualism + +• Herbivory -

+• Predation + -• Parasitic + -• Competition - -

Mutualism:Ants and Acacias

• Acacia provides:– Food– Home

• Ant provides– Protection– Competitive

advantage

Mutualism: Ants and Scale

Mutualism: Ants and Butterflies

Herbivory: Leaf cutter ants

Leafcutter harvesting fungus

Predators: Ants killing worm

Parasites: Slaver ants killing queen

Parasites: Enslaving ants

Parasites: Slaver ants with enslaved worker ants

Conclusions

• Ants are ideal study organisms– Small– Ubiquitous– Truly fascinating

Scientific report • Introduction

– State hypotheses tested

• Methods– Explain how you composed the experiment

• Results– Include graphs and figures

• Discussion– Explain the relevance of the study