Formica planipilis (Thatch ants)

Habitat

Queen Ant

Male Ants

Colony life cycleQueen

Male

Colony

Workers

The study by Peter Nonacs, PhD Investigates:

Total sample size 1199 Ants

Size

Distance

Foraging Habits Data

11 Colony

Determine that there’s a relationship between distance travelled by ants and the worker class group

Samples were collected at varying distances using traps

Statistical Tests & Analyses

One Way Analysis of Variance

Assumption

Kruskal-Wallis

Normality Test: Failed

Multiple Comparison Procedure

40-43 vs <30 256.301 4.221 Yes

Dunn’s method

Group N Missing Median 25% 75% <30 35 0 1.000 1.000 4.000>43 315 0 4.000 1.000 7.000(0 4 0 4.000 2.500 4.00030-34 104 0 4.000 1.000 7.00035-39 281 0 4.000 1.000 7.00040-43 460 0 7.000 1.000 10.000

Results

H = 38.918 with 5 degrees of freedom. (P = <0.001)

The Dunn’s multiple comparison analysis produce a significant difference for only one comparison (40-43 vs 30) with Q=4.221 and P < 0.05, while the others were insignificant.

Conclusion

There is a significant difference in the distance travelled among the varying worker classes.

Thus, there is a relationship between the worker class and the foraging distance of the thatch ant.

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