110 likes | 438 Views
Picnic Ants. Zachary Noonon. How do ants find food?. Find food source Bring food back to the mound Pheromones. What do ants eat?. 12000 species- Will eat anything Most ants like fruits, honey, and sugar Honeydew as central diet Some ants prefer greasy foods, meat or fungus
E N D
Picnic Ants Zachary Noonon
How do ants find food? • Find food source • Bring food back to the mound • Pheromones Images: http://mute-net.sourceforge.net/howAnts.shtml
What do ants eat? • 12000 species- Will eat anything • Most ants like fruits, honey, and sugar • Honeydew as central diet • Some ants prefer greasy foods, meat or fungus • Omnivorous scavengers Image: http://www.pestnet.com/ants/what-do-ants-eat/
Experiment Overview • Why did I choose this experiment? • Hypothesis: • Ants will be most attracted to foods that contain natural sugars, such as fruit, and least attracted to whole grains, greasy, or processed foods
Materials • Ants • Strawberry • Banana • Cheerios • Peanut Butter Crackers • Pepperoni
Experimental • Look for an ant mound • Place foods equidistant around the ant mound • Observe the trends and food preference
Results: Mound 1 • 2 mins- Ants were checking out all of the foods • 12 min- Interest in the cheerios, banana, and strawberry faded • 17 min- ants only seem interested in the pepperoni and peanut butter crackers • 25 min- ant swarms form and continue • 30 min- no change
Results: Mound 2 • 2 mins- ants find food • 15 min- the same trends formed but the ants were interested in the cheerios, crackers, and pepperoni • 22 mins- crackers were preferred most while the pepperoni and cheerios attracted some attention • 30 min- no change
Conclusion • Hypothesis Predictions: • Fruits (Banana, Strawberry) • Cheerios • Peanut Butter Crackers • Pepperoni • Results: • Peanut Butter Crackers • Pepperoni • Cheerios • Banana/Strawberry
Changes • Try fruit with different ripeness • Variable distances from mounds • Time of day • Different locations