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Ants in Space Teacher's Guide Experiments Aboard the International Space Station by Gregory Vogt, Ed.D. Stefanie Countryman, M.B.A. Deborah Gordon, Ph.D. Nancy Moreno, Ph.D. © 2014 by Baylor College of Medicine Houston, Texas © 2014 by Baylor College of Medicine All rights reserved. Printed in the United States of America. ISBN-13: 978-1-888997-88-0 Teacher Resources from the Center for Educational Outreach at Baylor College of Medicine. The mark “BioEd” is a service mark of Baylor College of Medicine. The activities described in this book are intended for school-age children under direct supervision of adults. The authors, Baylor College of Medicine (BCM), BioServe Space Technologies (University of Colorado), Center for the Advancement of Science in Space, and National Aeronautics and Space Administration, cannot be responsible for any accidents or injuries that may result from conduct of the activities, from not specifically following directions, or from ignoring cautions contained in the text. The opinions, findings and conclusions expressed in this publication are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of any partnering institution. Authors: Gregory Vogt, Ed.D., Stefanie Countryman M.B.A., Deborah Gordon, Ph.D., and Nancy Moreno, Ph.D. Editor: James Denk, M.A. Designer: Martha Young, B.F.A. Cover photo © Joseph Berger (www.bugwood.org). ACKNOWLEDGMENTS The authors gratefully acknowledge the support of William A. Thomson, Ph.D., Professor and Director, Center for Educational Outreach, Baylor College of Medicine. We especially acknowledge the valuable contributions of Michael Greene, Ph.D., at the University of Colorado Denver, Louis Stodieck, Ph.D., of BioServe Space Technologies (University of Colorado), and Diane Matthews, STEM Education, Center for the Advancement of Science in Space. This work was funded by grant number GA-2013-108 from the Center for the Advancement of Science in Space, Inc., (CASIS) through NASA funded Cooperative Agreement Number NNH11CD70A. No part of this book may be reproduced by any mechanical, photographic or electronic process, or in the form of an audio recording; nor may it be stored in a retrieval system, transmitted, or otherwise copied for public or private use without prior written permission of the publisher. Black-line masters reproduced for classroom use are excepted. BAYLOR COLLEGE OF MEDICINE, CENTER FOR EDUCATIONAL OUTREACH Baylor College of Medicine, 1 Baylor Plaza, BCM411, Houston, Texas 77030 713-798-8200 / 800-798-8244 / [email protected] / www.bioedonline.org BIOSERVE SPACE TECHNOLOGIES www.colorado.edu/engineering/BioServe CENTER FOR THE ADVANCEMENT OF SCIENCE IN SPACE http://www.iss-casis.org/ NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE ADMINISTRATION www.nasa.gov Contents EXPERIMENTS IN SPACE: 1. Introduction 1 Curriculum Projects on ISS BioEd Online archives science data from a series of investigations in micro- 2. Why Study Ants? 2 gravity focusing on ants, butterflies, plants and spiders. Future students can repeat these investigations by build- 3. All About Ants 3 ing new habitats and formulating their own research questions or hypotheses. Archived results from each flight can be 4. Pavement Ants: The “Ant-stronauts” 5 downloaded and compared, day-by-day, with observations of classroom habitats, permitting students to experience the 5. The Experiment in Microgravity 7 excitement of space-based life science research. Visit the URL below for more details. 6. How to Build the Earth-based Habitats 10 http://www.bioedonline.org/lessons-and- more/resource-collections/experiments- 7. Collecting and Adding Ants to the Habitat 14 in-space/ 8. Planning and Guiding the Investigations 16 CASIS Education: Where Gravity Won’t Hold You Back 18 Ants in Space is a cooperative effort of the following organizations. Baylor College of Medicine, Center for Educational Outreach www.bcm.edu/edoutreach BioServe Space Technologies, University of Colorado www.colorado.edu/engineering/BioServe Center for the Advancement of Science in Space http://www.iss-casis.org National Aeronautics and Space Administration http://www.nasa.gov © 2014 Baylor College of Medicine Contents BioEd Online Ants in Space iii 1 Introduction nts in Space is an educational A life science investigation on the TEACHER RESOURCES International Space Station (ISS). Downloadable activities in PDF format, Appropriate for students of all ages, annotated slide sets for classroom the experiment builds on previous, use, and other resources are available similar ISS-based investigations, which free at www.bioedonline.org. examined spider web spinning, but- terfly life cycles, and plant root growth scheduled for release in early 2014. in microgravity. Images and videos Students, teachers and the general of organisms living aboard ISS are public worldwide are invited to engage available, free of charge and in near in the Ants in Space experiment. To real-time, for viewing and comparison do so, each participant (or group) with ground-based organisms main- simply must set up a “ground-based” tained by student investigators. In chamber to observe and compare ants this authentic research, students ask living in Earth’s gravity to those liv- their own questions and collect data to ing in microgravity aboard ISS. This answer them. investigator’s manual describes the ant On January 9, 2014, the Ants investigation and provides the neces- in Space live investigation traveled sary details for students and teachers to the ISS on the first operational to conduct their own data collection flight of the new Cygnus Advanced and analysis. The manual begins with Maneuvering Spacecraft. Cygnus a primer on ants, followed by details was launched by an Antares rocket about the mission, instructions for from the NASA Wallops Flight building an inexpensive ant chamber, Launch of the Antares rocket car- Facility in Virginia. Video and and ideas for investigation questions. rying the Cygnus spacecraft from other data from the experiments are n Wallops Island Virginia on January 9, 2014, up to the International Space Station. Photo © Orbital Sciences Corporation. (www.orbital.com). The Canadarm2 on the International Space Station moves toward the Cygnus commercial cargo spacecraft, January 12, 2014. Photo courtesy of NASA. (http://www.nasa.gov/) 1. Introduction © 2014 Baylor College of Medicine 1 Ants in Space BioEd Online 2 Why Study Ants? nts are among the most abundant A and diverse of all insects. In fact, it has been estimated that they comprise 10% of Earth’s total biomass. Ants are social insects, thought to have evolved from wasp-like ancestors about 130 mil- lion years ago. They are members of the family Formicidae (for-mis-cid-ee) with an estimated 22,000 species, about half of which have been classified. Ants are found on nearly every landmass on Earth. Some species live in structured nests below ground; others live in mounds above ground and some live in trees. Ants’ ability to survive over millennia may be partly attribut- Large ant mound located west of Taos, able to their social organization, which New Mexico, as seen from a hot air enables colonies to modify habitats to balloon. Photo © Gregory L. Vogt, EdD. accommodate changing needs, obtain resources and defend themselves. no individual ant directs the behavior All ant species live in colonies, of another. Instead, an ant’s actions which operate without central control. are influenced by cues it receives A colony consists of one or more repro- from other ants and the environment. ductive females, called queens, which The combined responses of single Fossil rock containing an ant, have no authority, and serve strictly ants allow the colony to respond to recovered from the Florissant Fossil to lay eggs. The ants we see walking changing conditions. By studying ant Beds National Monument, Colorado. around are sterile, female workers that behavior, investigators are learning how Photo courtesy of the US National do not mate. to improve other distributed systems, Park Service (www.nps.gov). Ant colonies are distributed systems, such as the Internet, and are gaining in which collections of independent insights into networks as complex as individuals or entities appear to act the human brain. n as single, coherent units. In fact, © 2014 Baylor College of Medicine 2. Why Study Ants? BioEd Online Ants in Space 2 3 All About Ants ith elbowed antennae projecting such as material for constructing nests. W from large, bulbous heads and Mandibles also are used to husk seeds slender waists, ants are easy to distin- and provide defense. An ant’s gaster, guish from other related insects, such as or abdomen, contains reproductive and wasps. Ant heads contain many sensory respiratory organs, and the excretory sys- organs. Most ant species do not see dis- tem. Many species have stingers to sub- tinct objects, but their large compound due prey and defend the nest. Like all eyes, consisting of many small lenses insects, ants have six jointed legs. Small fused together, provide good motion hooks at the ends of their legs enable detection. Ants also have three simple ants to climb and hang on to things, eyes, or ocelli, on top of the head to perhaps even in microgravity. detect light. A few species of subterra- nean ants are completely blind. Ant Colonies Most ants within a colony, and the TYPICAL ANT ones we usually see, are wingless female Antennae Mandible “workers.” These ants never reproduce. Instead, they forage for food, care for the queen and the eggs, protect the Compound nest if attacked, build mounds, and eye Head dig tunnels and chambers. In almost Mesosoma all ant species, males are produced only Ocelli (thorax) when “reproductives”—daughter queens and males from different colonies— meet to mate. Afterward, the males Petiole Female harvester ant. Harvester ants die and the newly mated queens found collect seeds which are stored in the new colonies. nest in granaries. Photo © Joseph Gaster Ant colonies can last many decades, Leg Berger (www.bugwood.org).
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