Precedures
Handling Ants
1. When handling ants always wear the following protective gear
· White lab coat
· Long dishwashing gloves with a rubber band wrapped around the end
· Long pants
· Long socks
· Closed toed shoes
2. Remove all jewelry
3. Tie back long hair into ponytail
4. Check clothes after work
Anaphylactic Shock Safety Precautions
1. Post danger signs around workspace
2. Always keep a phone of some type accessible when handling ants
3. Never handle fire ants alone
4. Anyone with known allergies to fire ant venom should not work with ants
5. Anyone who handles fire ants should know the following symptoms of Anaphylactic Shock
· Hives/itching around sting
· Drop in blood pressure
· Respiratory distress
· Shortness of breath
· Possible nausea
Power Tool Safety
1. Wear goggles or safety glasses at all times when working with any saws, or drills.
2. Do not work alone in the lab.
3. Dry wet hands and clothing before working with electricity. Mop up all water spilled on the floor.
4. Keep lab clean.
5. Clamp down any materials being used.
6. Know the operation of all switches and controls before using a power tool.
7. Keep hands, fingers, feet, and all objects not being used away from moving parts.
8. Use a vacuum system to clear debris away from cutting area.
Electrical Power Safety
1. Limit the use of high power devices around water.
2. Never use frayed or cut wires when plugging in a device.
3. Never overload the outlet and use a surge protector.
4. All electrical devices should have an emergency cut off switch or ‘kill switch’.
5. Shut off and unplug all devices when not in use or when you leave the room unattended.
Collection of Ants
1. Put on appropriate safety equipment.
2. Push a shallow jar into the ant mound.
3. Remove jar from the ant mound, and close lid after a sufficient number of ants (50 ants or greater) fall into the jar.
4. Brush any ants off of clothing.
5. Remove any excess ants from the jar .
Maintaining Colony
1. Constantly supply ants with water from ‘water tubes’ consisting of a standard sized test tubes filled to within 3 cm from the top with water, and plugged with a compacted cotton ball, pushed down so that the cotton becomes saturated.
2. Ant food prepared from the recipe depicted by Drees, and Ellison (2001) should be placed in the middle of the foraging arena prior to data collection.
Experimental Design
1. Using plywood, build a 0.6m X 1.6m X 0.1m topless box, and attach four legs to the box.
2. Put a piece of graph paper with boxes about 5mm2 in the middle of the foraging arena.
3. Apply petroleum jelly to the top edge of the wall.
4. Setup 2 Williams colonies and place one on each side of the box.
5. For control groups, place a divider in the middle of the box.
Collecting Data
1. Place 50 ants on both sides of the box, separate the colonies with a divider, and put a 1 cm3 cube of ant food on each side of the divider.
2. Using a video camera record the number of ants that pass the beginning of the graph paper, while foraging. Record foraging activities for a 1 hour period.
3. Repeat the recording for additional trials.
4. Remove the divider and one block of food and repeat steps 2 and 3.
Descriptive Statistics
1. Data will first be organized in a data table based on variables.
2. Using an excel spreadsheet the data will be graphed and the standard deviation for each group of variables will be calculated.
