Activity: What's a Fire Ant to Eat?

• Overview

This lesson will teach students about the diet of red imported fire ants by allowing them to offer fats, proteins and carbohydrates (sugars) to the ants and observe their attraction (or lack thereof) to the various foods. Students will also observe preferred habitat of ants.

• Objective

The student will be able to identify the food types and landscape areas that are most attractive to fire ants.

• TEKS

Science

3rd grade: 3.1.a, 3.1.b, 3.2.b, 3.2.c, 3.2.3, 3.7.a, 3.8.a

4th grade: 4.1.a, 4.1.b, 4.2.b, 4.2.c, 4.2.e

5th grade: 5.1.a, 5.1.b, 5.2.b, 5.2.c, 5.2.e

• Materials

Bait stations (note cards or another type of heavy paper)

Permanent markers

Pens or pencils, one for each student

Food items: olive oil, canned tuna, potato chips, Vienna sausage, honey, peanuts, sunflower seeds, dry dog food (any other foods high in fats, proteins, or sugar), citrus peels, molasses, chocolate chips, peppermints

Soap

Sting medications

Data Observation Sheet, one copy for each student

• Safety tips

• Worker fire ants will sting so watch out where students place their hands!

• First aid for fire ant stings: Commercially available sting medications can help relieve the stinging. Washing the stings with soap and water will clean the area and help reduce the chances of secondary infection. Some individuals may experience allergic reactions to the bites. Refer to the Fire Ant Project fact sheet, Medical Problems Associated with the Imported Fire Ant (FAPFS023), for more information on medical issues.

• Tell them that they should not scratch the sting or rupture the pustule that might occur at the sting site because secondary infections may occur. The pustule is a normal result of a fire ant sting and is sterile unless ruptured.

• Instructions

1. Before beginning the outdoor activities, discuss fire ant safety.
2. Have the students label each of the bait stations with the name of the food that will be placed on it.
3. Then they should place the bait stations with different foods at equal distances around large fire ant mounds to see which foods are most attractive and least attractive. Bait stations may be placed from 6 to 12 inches from the mound in a circular pattern. If the outdoor temperature is above 70 degrees Fahrenheit, ants should find the foods within 15 minutes. If outdoor temperatures are slightly cooler than this, it may take 30 minutes or longer for the fire ants to visit the bait stations. If temperatures are cooler than 60 degrees Fahrenheit or hotter than 95 degrees Fahrenheit, fire ants may not emerge from the ground at all.
4. While waiting for the ants to find the bait, you may opt to do some other activity with the students such as gathering weather information or examining the area to see where fire ant mounds are located and whether they are in sunny or shady areas.
5. Students should use the Data Observation Sheet to record their observations: favorite and least favorite ant foods, time until ants found the food, numbers of ants at the food (many, few, none). They may also record whether other types of ants came to the food and the relative size of the mound (large, medium, small) that they selected to test. Weather conditions such as temperature and sky condition (cloudy, clear, partly cloudy, etc.) should be recorded for reference.

• Wrap-up

Ask: Which food types were most attractive? Which were the least attractive?

Did the ants avoid any of the foods altogether? Why do you think they avoided a food selection? How would the feeding activities be different under different weather conditions?

Have the students write a short paragraph about the types of food you used and which ones attracted more ants. Where do they think ants fit into the food chain?

Note to teachers: You may want to refer to the KIDzANTS Teacher Manual, which is from the original release of KIDzANTS made by Texas AgriLife Extension.

PLEASE PROVIDE FEEDBACK

The fire ant eXtension youth team would love some feedback from your experience. Please contact Paul Nester (p-nester@tamu.edu) with questions, comments, testimonials, and particularly images of your students' accomplishments and the students engaging in this activity. If you send images that include students, please be sure that parental approval has been given to use the image. Most schools routinely have parents sign a photographic release form. If you are unsure whether a permission form has been completed, you can use this form and send it along with the image: Photography Release Form

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