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Ant Behaviour

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Submitted By pollytoh
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FHSC 1214
Fundamentals of Cell Biology
Foundation in Science

Name | Chan Kah Mun (1404456)
Beerow Yin (1404321)
Toh Poh Lee (1404155) | Program | Foundation In Science | Unit Code | FHSC 1214 | Unit Description | Fundamentals of Cell Biology | Year and Semester of Study | 2014 , Trimester 1 | Title of Lab Report | Biology Proposal ( Mini Project ) | Title of Experiment | Humanity Thinking in Ants | Lecturer Name | Ms.Nicole Ngai Suet Loo |

Introduction
Humans as we know first started out as nomads, moving from place to place to search not only for better shelter but also for a better food source. With human revolution, technologies and industries started growing. This leads to more choices ranging from better shelter to tastier food source. When options increase, it is challenging to make the best choice. If humans can choose the best food for themselves, what of animals and insects like ants? Have we ever wondered how ants look for food? More importantly, would they know how to differentiate from an abundant food source to a sparse food source?
Ants have been evolved from wasp-like ancestors in the mid-Cretaceous period between 110 and 130 million years ago and diversified after the rise of flowering plant. There are at least 12,000 identified ant species in the world. Scientists believe there are many more. They are easily identified by their elbowed antennae and a distinctive node-like structure that forms a slender waist. Moreover, they are incredibly known as successful species, due to their complex social organization.
Coovert (2005) stated that, ants are social insects of the family Formicidae. Ants belong to the insect order Hymenoptera and are close relatives of bees and wasps. Ant are highly organise colonies. Ant societies have division of labour communication between individuals, and an ability to solve complex problems. .These parallels with human societies have long been an inspiration and subject of study.

Figure 1: The Body Structure of an Ant. (http://www.enchantedlearning.com/subjects/insects/ant/)
According to research from Harvard University, ant is divided into three main parts – head, thorax and the abdomen. Ants have a hard, waterproof exoskeleton, which is made up of chitin. The head of an ant consists of various sensory organ such as eyes, mandible and antennae. They have two large compound eyes made from numerous tiny lenses attached together. They often have three simply eyes (Ocelli) on top of the head to detect light levels and polarization. Most ants have poor to mediocre eyesight and a few subterranean species are completely blind. However, there are some exception Australia’s bulldog ant have excellent vision, having the ability to discriminate the distance and size of objects moving up to nearly a metre. Since they have poor vision, how do they detect food? Well, that is why ants have two antenna (feelers), located at the part of the head that enables the ants to detect chemicals, odours, air current, vibration and even in communication too (Silverstein, 2003). Just like humans have nose to detect scent , ants’ olfactory receptors which situated at the feelers have innumerable neurons in binding free floating molecules such as odour and water vapour ,sending down to their axons follow to the antennal lobes and lastly to the brain. From there, the neurons of the antennal lobes connect to the corpora pedunculata that identify the odour thus leading the ant to the food source (Wyatts, 2003) When ant leaves its nest, how does it find its way back? Moreover, how does its fellow mates find them? Pheromones, as defined by Jacobson (1972), are “substances secreted by an animal to influence the behaviour of other animals of the same species”. According to Wilson (1963), pheromones are generally synthesized within specialized exocrine glands which are located in the posterior abdomen of an ant. As the pheromones flows down the sting, a trail is established. This means that when an ant goes foraging for food, it leaves behind a trail for its fellow mates to follow.
Therefore, with the use of their sensory organs such as the antenna, yes, they can differentiate between an abundant food source and a sparse food source thus having the same thinking as humans leading us to the title of this proposal ‘Humanity Thinking In Ants’. This can be further proven through the experiment carried out by our group.

Hypothesis: The higher the concentration of sucrose solution, the more amount of ants on the sucrose cube.
Objectives: 1. To understand the body structure of ants. 2. To determine the ability of ants to find a better food source.

Materials and Methods

Materials :
50 Ants , 5cm3 of 0.1M sucrose cube, 5cm3 1.0M of sucrose cube , plasticine , satay stick , ant nest

Apparatus :
Y fork , 3 tripod stand

Methods :
1. 5cm3 of 0.1M sucrose cube and 5cm3 of 1.0M sucrose cube are set up on two similar tripod stands.
2. The sucrose cube are connected using a Y-fork. The end of the Y-fork is supported with another tripod stand.
3. A satay stick is allowed to rest on the edge of the Y-fork. A plasticine is used to secure the stick onto the container containing 50 ants.
4. The movement of the ants towards different concentration of sucrose cube are observed over a period of 1 week.

Apparatus set up :

Sucrose cube

Y- Fork

Wood splint

* Container

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