Nutritional Preferences of Formicidae in Costa Rica

Authors

  • Haley Gavranovic TAMU Entomology

Abstract

Ant nutrition has been studied across the world and heavily in the United States. The nutritional preferences of Formicidae in tropical environments have little to no research. In order to create the most affective baiting methods for ant colonies, five nutritional treatments were tested among the native ant species of Costa Rica. The transects consisted of 50 vials per transect in three different elevated locations of Pocosol, Soltis, and La Selva. The data yielded significant results of ants preferring different nutritional agents dependent on elevation. The Pocosol location had a p-value of <0.01 and favored the protein treatment. The Soltis location had a p-value of 7.81E-13 and favored the lipid treatment. The La Selva location had a p-value of 0.0365 and favored the lipid and protein treatment. Due to the results showing the varying nutritional preferences of ants in different elevations, the pest ant colonies can be specifically targeted with appropriate baits.

Published

2022-01-27