Why Are Reports of Ant Pollination Rare?: A Field and Lab Exercise Using the Scientific Method

 

Mary N. Puterbaugh and Mary Blaine Prince

Tested Studies in Laboratory Teaching, 2001, Volume 22

Abstract

This exercise uses ants (considered by some to be the “scoundrels in the pollination drama!”) to test questions about the morphological and behavioral features that permit insects to be good pollinators. Students are presented with the fact that ants are abundant insects, but fewer than 20 plant species worldwide have been documented as ant-pollinated. Students generate specific hypotheses for the rarity of ant pollination, and design experiments to test their hypotheses. This exercise has both a field and indoor component so that it can be successful even if it is raining, and ants are inactive outdoors.

Keywords:  ecology, field studies, hypothesis, ants, pollination, mutualism, hypothesis testing

Clemson University (2000)