Ian Johnson, ’22, Geosciences

Ian Johnson ’22

Major

Mathematics

Project Title

Go to the Ant Thou Sluggard, Consider Her Ways Be Wise: Buffelgrass Seed Preferences, Predation and Dispersal in Kenya Home Range by Messor Harvester Ants

Certificate(s): European Cultural Studies, Humanistic Studies

I studied the relationship between harvester ants and buffelgrass, a wheatlike grass native to Kenya that’s invasive in Arizona and southern Texas. My team wanted to determine if harvester ants suppress buffelgrass by eating its seeds, or if they help it spread by dispersing its seeds. I mapped the ants’ trail networks and measured traffic on different dates and times to better understand their foraging behavior. We took samples of seeds from along the trail networks, the environment, and the refuse piles the ants form outside their nests. We compared the composition of seeds from various plant species in our samples, but did not find enough correlation to answer our initial question. Our findings did show that harvester ants forage in fantastically complex, dynamic and unpredictable (yet, not random) ways. My work greatly improved my abilities to interpret data, observe wildlife, collect samples, and organize measurements. If I’m to be a scientist, field zoology is the way to go.