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Oklahoma | FAQ |
| Army Ants: their diversity and impact in 4 Neotropical forests |
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Army ants have colonies of up to a million individuals criss-crossing the tropical forest floor, finding, killing, and devouring their prey. Like jaguars, they may be keystone predators—unobvious but critical players that, by killing some species, open opportunities for others. Save for a handful of Central American species, little is known about the behavior, diet, or bio-diversity of army ants. Our team proposes to study the army ants of four South and Central American forests. We will explore what the colonies eat—and, just as importantly, whom they leave behind. We hope to better understand the diversity of ways that 20+ large, mobile ant species make a living on the tropical forest floor. |
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Mike Kaspari University of Oklahoma La Selva Biological Station |
A huge question in tropical ecology involves the role of predators in shaping the abundance and diversity of coexisting species. Army ant raids start from a central place, their bivouac, and snake through the soil and litter, eating a variety of insects but focusing, it appears on ants and other social insects. It is conceivable that they play a major role in regulating the numbers of ant colonies, and their size, in the litter. However, like all top predators, they are uncommon. As a consequence, we know next to nothing about the biology of most army ants. |
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John Lattke Universidad Central Sta. Maria Valley |
The best studied army ant (perhaps because they are the most conspicuous) is Eciton burchelli. Along with another common army ant, Labidus praedator, E. burchelli, fans out at the raid front, producing a boiling mass of ants. Swarm raiding species eat a variety of prey, and may be responsible for leaving swaths of forest litter impoverished. Many of the insects that escape the swarm front are captured by ant birds or parasitized by flies that specialize on picking off escapees from army ant raids. |
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Sean O'Donnell University of Washington Yasuni National Park
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Little is known about the diversity and impact of army ants as one moves from forest to forest throughout the Neotropics. In this study, funded by the National Geographic Society, we will use study the army ant communities from four tropical forests in Costa Rica, Panama, Ecuador and Venezuela. Along with a field assistant, we will use four simple survey methods for at least 5 weeks, to count the number of species, their raid frequency, diet, and, in the case of swarm raiders, their impact. |
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Scott Powell University of Bristol Barro Colorado Island
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These methods are simple, but effective. First, we will walk the forest trails, day and night, looking for foraging columns. Second, we will use "pitfall traps", cups embedded flush with the forest soil connected by aluminum flashing, which will guide raid columns into the traps. Third, we will use underground traps to capture subsurface raiders. Finally, we will sample the litter before and after swarm raids, to examine which prey are most likely to suffer from the predation of these "jaguars of the litter". |
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| Author:
Mike Kaspari Updated: 2July2003 |
 This page was built with support from the National Science Foundation DEB-9524004. |