1.
“Social Insects”
Ants (top predators), Termites (decomposers), Bees &
Wasps (pollinators)
Advantages
Disadvantages
Defense
Share the work to be done
Specialized professionals
Easy to find & hunt
Lots of resources needed
Not easy to move to a new
home
Coordination of projects
Queen secretions determine actions,
she does not have executive freedom
Insect Colonies are families (in a literal sense)
 Only some are allowed to lay eggs
 Workers make up most of the colony, but do not raise
their own children
 Ants raise and protect brothers and sisters
 Workers are not “slaves” because they work to protect
their own families
2. Ants
The facts:
 207 species in Florida (Most diverse of any state due to
warm, moist climate)
 5-6 species are considered major pests (Fire ants #1 pest,
most pests are exotics)
 Most native ants live in soil, leaf litter, tussocks, and twigs
and prey on other insects
 Ants are important food for birds (woodpeckers), frogs,
toads, and lizards
 Social colony; queen, female workers, and males (drones)
 Many native ants can coexist, native cone ants compete
with fire ants
3. Ants& Aphids
The facts:
 Aphids are considered pests to humans due to crop
damage, ladybugs feast on aphids
 Ants and aphids help each other out
 Ants carry aphids to the nest and rub them which releases
honeydew produced in the aphid liquid acquired from
plant stems, this liquid is used to feed the ant colony
 Ants carry aphids back to plants (similar to a farmer
allowing a cow to graze, the cow produces milk, the farmer
milks the cow, the cow returns to the pasture)
 Ants in turn guard aphids from predators
4. Fire Ants
 Not native
 Introduced around 1940
 Open landscape and drainage of lands for development
decrease natural flooding, allowing fire ants to succeed
 Pastures are “improved” by removing tussocks and other
native grasses, which reduces the number of native ant
colonies that would compete with fire ants
 More pesticides kill native ants, while many fire ants are
not hurt by pesticides
5. The Many Mysteries of Ants
 Ants play games
(females wrestle, box and play “ball” with seeds)
 Ants keep pets
(Tinier insects that ants allow to live in nests)
 Ants may keep “cows” (aphids)
 They may grow food (fungus ants gather leaf litter &
caterpillar droppings to grow fungus to feed larvae)
 Ants may keep “slaves” (they may capture other types of
ants to dig and gather food)
 Ants have jobs such as babysitting, cleaning, repairing,
guarding the nest and collecting food
 Ants leave trails (after finding food ants leave a scent for
other ants to follow)