What Are the Effects of High Audio Frequencies on Pogonomyrmex barbatus?

Overview

Objectives The purpose of this project is to investigate whether or not different audio frequencies will repel Pogonomyrmex barbatus (also known as Red Carpenter ants). This is a second year project, the reason I am doing this research is because I want a better understanding of why ants are repelled or effected by sound. While I was researching my first year project, I found a video. While watching the video, a bunch of ants were walking around a phone. When the phone rang, the ants walked around the phone clockwise in perfect unison. In my experiment, I will use two connected ant farms, a phone, a speaker, a sugar block, and ants. I will use the connected ant farms to keep my ants in a secure area so they don t wander off. I will use the phone to play different frequencies. I will use the speaker to project the sound. Finally, I will use the ants as the test subject. First, I will put the ants in the ant farm. Second, I will put the sugar cube to one side of the ant farms so the ants will rotate in a solid motion. Third, I will play an audio frequency too high for me to hear. Fourth,I will watch the ants for one minute and see how many ants stopped rotating to the attractant. Fifth, I will record my data. My control for the project will be no sound. My experimental test variable is the different audio frequencies. I will play 5 different frequencies on the phone. After one minute I will change the sound. I will do this five times. From my investigation, I hope to prove that ants will be repelled away from the noise. Ants communicate through a series of vibrations, and frequencies too high to hear produce more vibrations than low frequencies, therefore it will repel the ants. Methods Materials: Ants Double ant farm Speaker Phone Water feeder Tunneling sand Tunnel starter tool Procedures:

Competition history

• CSEF 2019 Zoology · Entry J2204

Resources

• CSEF project summary ↗

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