Monique Landeros

Bio Lab
Fall 2016
April 21,2016
Animal Foraging
INTRODUCTION AND BACKGROUND INFORMATION:
To study how animals forage for their food, we are going to study the Argentine ant which is the ant
species that is most common in Southern California. The Argentine ant is also an invasive species that
have dominated their habitat over other native species. They have become the predominant ant
species because of they are competitive and can identify the ideal food to bring back to the nest.
These characteristics help them because they have the specific qualities that benefit their chances of
surviving and reproducing.

QUESTION:

Do ants prefer 30% sucrose (sugar water) or the dry table sugar?

HYPOTHESIS:

The ant would prefer the 30% sucrose sugar water rather than the table sugar because the sucrose
is already dissolved and would give off a stronger scent than the table sugar. Also, the sucrose
would be easier to consume and carry the food back to their nest which would also help them
conserve energy.

MATERIALS:

30% sucrose (sugar water)

Table sugar
4 index cards
Cotton balls

LOCATION:

METHODS:

1. In our group we created four testing stations with two index cards with cotton balls tht
were soaked with the 30% sucrose (sugar water) and two index cards with table sugar
spread along the surface area of the card.
Monique Landeros
Bio Lab
Fall 2016
April 21,2016
Animal Foraging
2. We then placed one of each testing stations one inch apart on opposite sides of the tree

3. Observe testing stations for 25 minutes and observe what testing station did the ants
prefer and see if its true for both testing stations.
4. Record Data.

DATA:
TESTING STATION 1

Time 30% sucrose (sugar water) Table Sugar

9;43 2 4 Number of Ants
9:48 3 4
9:53 4 3 (wind)
9:58 3 4
10:03 4 2 (wind)
Station 1 Location: The tree trunk was able to block the wind interference, so ants were able to
forage for food more successfully.

TESTING STATION 2

Time 30% sucrose (sugar water) Table Sugar

9;43 0 (too wet) 0 (wind) Number of Ants
9:48 0 (too wet) 3
9:53 0 (too wet) 4
9:58 0 (too wet) 0 (wind)
10:03 2 (sticky) 0 (wind)
Monique Landeros
Bio Lab
Fall 2016
April 21,2016
Animal Foraging
Station 2 Location: This testing station had no protection from the wind, therefore making it
difficult for the ants to get their food.

CONCLUSION:

In conclusion, based on my data and observation, my hypothesis was wrong. The ants seemed to
prefer the dry table sugar rather than the sugar water. I believe this is so because the sugar water
was too wet and when it did begin to dry up, the ants become stuck and it was harder for them to
move. The wind also played a big factor in our testing areas because one of the testing areas had
an advantage of protecting itself from the wind so not as many ants were blown away. If we were
to test this experiment again with ideal weather conditions, I believe more ants would prefer the
table sugar still.