Which Flavor Ants Are Most Attracted To

(You should hand in your report in form of webpage, and the following parts of a report should be included .)

Which flavor ants are most attracted to?

(The title should clearly tell the research question.)

Introduction

(State the purpose of this study in more details. But the purpose below is of no difference from the title.)

The purpose of this experiment was to determine which flavor ants are most attracted to.

(Why was this topic chosen ?)

I first became interested in this idea when I found ants crawling over various food items like a fruit snack and dog food.

(Why was this study important ?)

The information gained from this experiment can help people with ants living in their homes to uncover natural, effective ant bait. Homeowners with ant problems spend many dollars per year to try do get rid of ants. It would cost consumers much less just to use common, around-the-house substances.

HYPOTHESIS (a guess to the answer of the study question)

My hypothesis is that the ants will be most attracted to a sweet flavor rather than the other flavors sour, salty, bitter, or control (water).

(Why did I make such hypothesis ?)

I base my hypothesis on the results of an interview with an employee of Weaver Exterminating Service who said that ants are generally attracted to sugar and other sweet compounds. I also base my hypothesis on personal experiences and encounters that I have had with ants.

EXPERIMENT DESIGN

The manipulated variable (The only factor changed intentionally by experimenters to look at its effect) was the flavor of the solution that was dropped on the bread squares.

The responding variable (the effects to look at ) was the number of ants attracted to each flavor.

To measure the responding variable I took pictures of the ants at pre-planned time intervals. Then I took a count of the ants that were at each station in each picture.

The following have to be kept unchanged(controlled variables) in the study :

-Size and kind of bread piece - temperature of testing area - Time of day observations and measurements are made -Time of day food was replaced -Amount of solution on piece of bread. -Source of ants - All ants were kept in the same environment and have equal access to all five flavors.

MATERIALS

ITEM DESCRIPTION QUANTITY Ants 200 White Bread 1 loaf Glass Terrarium 1 Digital Camera 1 Sand (for Ants’ Habitat) amount n/a Leaves (for Ants’ Habitat) amount n/a Tin foil (3cm by 3cm) 25 squares Eye dropper 1 10 mL Graduated Cylinder 1 Magnetic Stirrer 1 Water bath (warm) 1

PROCEDURES (Detailed steps of doing the experiment. The amount of materials used and time should be stated clearly)

A. Preparing the terrarium with a habitat suitable for ants

1) Put 3 centimeters of sand, soil and beauty bark mixture in the bottom. 2) Place moist, rotting wood in random locations inside the terrarium. 3) Spray water on the sand to form a more suitable sand texture for the ant colony.

B. Preparing the solutions and bread slices To achieve the following flavors, make these solutions by following the next steps.

1) Solution 1: SWEET flavor- 5% Sucrose: Dissolve 5.0 grams of sucrose into 95.0 grams of deionized water. Warm up solution to mix. 2) Solution 2: SOUR flavor- 0.15% Citric Acid: Mix 0.15 grams of citric acid with 99.85 grams of deionized water. Using a magnetic stirrer, slowly mix the solution. 3) Solution 3: SALTY flavor- 1.0% Sodium Chloride: Dissolve 1.0 grams of sodium chloride into 99.0 grams of deionized water. Warm up solution to mix. 4) Solution 4: BITTER flavor- 0.15% Caffeine: Mix .15 grams of caffeine with 99.85 grams of deionized water. 5) Solution 5: NO flavor (control)- 100% Deionized Water: 100 grams of deionized water. 6) Cut five squares of bread 2cm by 2cm and (1) centimeter thick. 7) Drop 0.5 milliliter (13 drops) of sweet solution onto a bread square using an eyedropper. 8) Flip square over and drop 0.5 mL (13 drops) of solution on that side. 9) Repeat steps seven and eight using the sour, bitter, salty and control solutions on separate pieces of bread. 10) Cut 25 squares of tin foil each 6cm by 6cm. 11) Place squares of bread on top of tin foil and put ants into terrarium. 12) Every two hours, record the number of ants on each bread square, then take 1 picture with the digital camera. 13) Repeat steps six through eleven three times each day for five days. C. Following steps six through eleven, change the bread squares at each station after 24 hours of exposure to the ants.

D. Analyzing Data 1) At 1:00, 3:00 and 5:00 pictures were taken. Names/Dates were added to pictures as soon as they were processed. 2) This process was repeated after each day with the trial pictures. 3) Averages were taken of each station’s data after the testing period is completely over. 4) Graph all results.

RESULTS (Results have to be presented in forms of tables, graphs, diagrams, or photographs.)

Discussion

(Describe and explain the results, point out limitations of the study and suggest further study)

(state the trends/pattern shown by the data ) The results of the experiment were that the ants were attracted to the sweet flavored bread square more than any of the other flavors, but on a rare occasion they would visit the sour, bitter, and salty squares. They also did not visit the control (water) station often, in fact I only observed one ant at this station in the entire experiment.

(point out the limitations of the experiment )

Because of the results of this experiment, I wonder if the ants would prefer a sweet liquid to a sweet flavored solid. I also wonder if this same result would occur for other "pest" insects, like termites or cockroaches.

(suggest further study)

If I were to conduct this project again I would try different substances and carriers for the different flavors. I might have attempted to determine whether the ants preferred a viscous (gel-like) liquid versus a non-viscous (watery) liquid. Observing more ants and observing them for a longer duration of time would make the experiment more reliable.

(The discussion above lacked “ explanation of the results - why ants like sweet most ?”.)

CONCLUSION (A conclusion is an answer to your study question. You should indicate if your hypothesis is supported by the results.)

My hypothesis was that the ants would prefer the sweet flavor to the other flavors: sour, bitter, salty, and control.

The results indicate that this hypothesis should be accepted.