Mar 16, 2023
Tetiaroa Yellow Crazy Ant Sampling: Sugar and PB Protocol - 1/24/2023
- Juliet Capriola1,
- Kalani Alcala1
- 1UC Berkeley
Protocol Citation: Juliet Capriola, Kalani Alcala 2023. Tetiaroa Yellow Crazy Ant Sampling: Sugar and PB Protocol - 1/24/2023. protocols.io https://dx.doi.org/10.17504/protocols.io.n2bvj81rxgk5/v1
License: This is an open access protocol distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited
Protocol status: Working
We use this protocol and it's working
Created: March 16, 2023
Last Modified: March 16, 2023
Protocol Integer ID: 78939
Keywords: tetiaroa yellow crazy ant sampling, extent of the invasive yellow crazy ant, invasive yellow crazy ant, tetiaroa atoll, crazy ant sampling, ant sugar water, ant, tetiaroa, sugar water bait, peanut butter bait, anoplolepis gracilipe, peanut butter vial, experiment
Funders Acknowledgements:
Kalani Alcala
Abstract
Walked along a series of transects with ant sugar water and peanut butter vials. The experiment aimed to discover the extent of the invasive yellow crazy Ant ,Anoplolepis gracilipes, on Tetiaroa Atoll. In addition, the experiment aimed to test if ants preferred the sugar water bait or the peanut butter bait.
Guidelines
- If it rains, do not set out ant traps as no ants will be present in the area. Wait one hour if it rains to continue or begin experiment.
- Do not trespass
- Analyze site safety before conducting a sample
- Avoid trampling flora
- If a point is inside a building, just go to the next point or as close to the point as possible
Materials
38 plastic vials
25 think napkins
Sugar water
Peanut butter
1 white index card
Epicollect app on smartphone
Gaia GPS app on smartphone
Timer (watch, smartphone, etc.)
Troubleshooting
Safety warnings
Wear long pants and closed toed shoes- dense underbrush!!
Ethics statement
Unfortunately ants were harmed in the process.
Before start
Put on bug spray you're gonna need it.
Preparation
Divide the atoll into a series of transects labeled A-Z. Then on each transect create points 1-X. The points should create a grid on the island.
Prepare 25 sugar plastic vials by soaking a napkin in sugar water and placing at the bottom of the vial
Preparation
Prepare 12 PB plastic vials by placing 1 TBS of peanut butter at the bottom of each vial, making sure not to get any PB on the sides of the vial.
Deployment
Navigate to the site using Gaia GPS
At each site, place one sugar vial. Place a peanut butter vial down directly next to the sugar water vial only if ants are spotted in the nearby surrounding area.
Note
In the future, we would modify this procedure to deploy PB vials at every other site, not only when we saw ants surrounding, in order to standardize the procedure.
Deployment
Fill out Epicollect form detailing: deployed/retrieved, site number, and time collected (automatic)
Deployment
Repeat steps 3-5 at each site. Go in reverse order in the following section for retrieval.
Retrieval
After 90 minutes, return to placed vials. Retrieve any flags in the area marking transect.
Pick up and quickly cap vials, not letting any ants escape in the process.
Retrieval
Fill out form on EpiCollect. Count crazy ants on each vial.
If there are too many ants, head back to lab. Freeze vials and count ants afterward.
Clean up
Clean out test tubes and throw away samples.