Download or read book Ant Architecture written by Walter R. Tschinkel and published by Princeton University Press. This book was released on 2021-06-22 with total page 244 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An unprecedented look at the complex and beautiful world of underground ant architecture Walter Tschinkel has spent much of his career investigating the hidden subterranean realm of ant nests. This wonderfully illustrated book takes you inside an unseen world where thousands of ants build intricate homes in the soil beneath our feet. Tschinkel describes the ingenious methods he has devised to study ant nests, showing how he fills a nest with plaster, molten metal, or wax and painstakingly excavates the cast. He guides you through living ant nests chamber by chamber, revealing how nests are created and how colonies function. How does nest architecture vary across species? Do ants have "architectural plans"? How do nests affect our environment? As he delves into these and other questions, Tschinkel provides a one-of-a-kind natural history of the planet's most successful creatures and a compelling firsthand account of a life of scientific discovery. Offering a unique look at how simple methods can lead to pioneering science, Ant Architecture addresses the unsolved mysteries of underground ant nests while charting new directions for tomorrow’s research, and reflects on the role of beauty in nature and the joys of shoestring science.
Download or read book Inside the Ants Nest written by Karen Ang and published by Bearport Publishing. This book was released on 2013-08-01 with total page 24 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Long lines of tiny black ants march along a narrow path in a dense forest. They are foraging for food to bring back to a huge mound, which serves as the entrance to their vast underground home. Within the nest are extensive tunnels and chambers where ants raise their young and store food. Welcome to the ants' nest! Clear text and colorful photos and diagrams will engage young readers as they explore the natural habitat, physical characteristics, diet, and behavior of these curious creatures. Age-appropriate activities and critical-thinking questions give readers an opportunity to make observations and gain valuable insights.
Download or read book Look Inside an Ant Nest written by Megan Cooley Peterson and published by Capstone. This book was released on 2012 with total page 14 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Full-color photographs and simple text describe ant nests"--Provided by publisher.
Download or read book The Natural Navigator written by Tristan Gooley and published by The Experiment. This book was released on 2012-06-05 with total page 320 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From the New York Times-bestselling author of The Secret World of Weather and The Lost Art of Reading Nature’s Signs, learn to tap into nature and notice the hidden clues all around you Before GPS, before the compass, and even before cartography, humankind was navigating. Now this singular guide helps us rediscover what our ancestors long understood—that a windswept tree, the depth of a puddle, or a trill of birdsong can help us find our way, if we know what to look and listen for. Adventurer and navigation expert Tristan Gooley unlocks the directional clues hidden in the sun, moon, stars, clouds, weather patterns, lengthening shadows, changing tides, plant growth, and the habits of wildlife. Rich with navigational anecdotes collected across ages, continents, and cultures, The Natural Navigator will help keep you on course and open your eyes to the wonders, large and small, of the natural world.
Download or read book Adventures among Ants written by Mark W. Moffett and published by Univ of California Press. This book was released on 2010-05-05 with total page 289 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Intrepid international explorer, biologist, and photographer Mark W. Moffett, "the Indiana Jones of entomology," takes us around the globe on a strange and colorful journey in search of the hidden world of ants. In tales from Nigeria, Indonesia, the Amazon, Australia, California, and elsewhere, Moffett recounts his entomological exploits and provides fascinating details on how ants live and how they dominate their ecosystems through strikingly human behaviors, yet at a different scale and a faster tempo. Moffett’s spectacular close-up photographs shrink us down to size, so that we can observe ants in familiar roles; warriors, builders, big-game hunters, and slave owners. We find them creating marketplaces and assembly lines and dealing with issues we think of as uniquely human—including hygiene, recycling, and warfare. Adventures among Ants introduces some of the world’s most awe-inspiring species and offers a startling new perspective on the limits of our own perception. • Ants are world-class road builders, handling traffic problems on thoroughfares that dwarf our highway systems in their complexity • Ants with the largest societies often deploy complicated military tactics • Some ants have evolved from hunter-gatherers into farmers, domesticating other insects and growing crops for food
Download or read book The Glass Sided Ants Nest written by Peter Dickinson and published by Open Road Media. This book was released on 2015-02-24 with total page 186 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Winner of the CWA Gold Dagger: Scotland Yard’s James Pibble puzzles over the murder of a pygmy tribesman in the middle of London in this “first class” mystery (The Times Literary Supplement). Oddball cases are James Pibble’s specialty. But the brutal bludgeoning of the revered elder of a New Guinea tribesman may be his strangest yet. The corpse, in striped pajamas, lies in the middle of a room completely absent of furniture. Seven women squat on the floorboards. One knits. Another sits cross-legged at his feet. They all chant incantations in a strange language. The murder weapon, a wooden balustrade ornament in the shape of an owl, could have been wielded by any of the myriad suspects Pibble meets at Flagg Terrace, the London residence where the Ku family currently lives. And the only clue seems to be an Edwardian penny. So who killed bearded, four-foot-tall Aaron Ku? Everyone seems to have an alibi, including a local real estate agent, a professional escort, and an anthropologist whose marriage into the tribe was forbidden. In a house where men and women live in separate quarters, Pibble must follow a hierarchy of primitive rituals and gender-role reversals to unmask a surprising killer. The Glass-Sided Ants’ Nest is the 1st book in the James Pibble Mysteries, but you may enjoy reading the series in any order.
Download or read book The Ants written by Bert Hölldobler and published by Harvard University Press. This book was released on 1990 with total page 784 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From the Arctic to South Africa - one finds them everywhere: Ants. Making up nearly 15% of the entire terrestrial animal biomass, ants are impressive not only in quantitative terms, they also fascinate by their highly organized and complex social system. Their caste system, the division of labor, the origin of altruistic behavior and the complex forms of chemical communication makes them the most interesting group of social organisms and the main subject for sociobiologists. Not least is their ecological importance: Ants are the premier soil turners, channelers of energy and dominatrices of the insect fauna. TOC:The importance of ants.- Classification and origins.- The colony life cycle.- Altruism and the origin of the worker caste.- Colony odor and kin recognition.- Queen numbers and domination.- Communication.- Caste and division of labor.- Social homeostasis and flexibility.- Foraging and territorial strategies.- The organization of species communities.- Symbioses among ant species.- Symbioses with other animals.- Interaction with plants.- The specialized predators.- The army ants.- The fungus growers.- The harvesters.- The weaver ants.- Collecting and culturing ants.- Glossary.- Bibliography.- Index.
Download or read book Ant Architecture written by Walter R. Tschinkel and published by Princeton University Press. This book was released on 2021-06-22 with total page 244 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Many animals, from birds to insects, build structures using wood, soil, or a range other materials. Suprisingly to most people, a similarly diverse array of animal homes exist underground, in the hiddent world beneath our feet. This is particularly true for ants who excavate large and complex nests in which they shelter, reproduce and generally go about their lives. Despite the existence of this vast underground world, it has remained largely unexplored. Walter Tschinkel, however, has spent his career researching underground ant nests in his home state of Florida (where they are particularly prevalent) and this book is his story of discovery about what he has learned about these nests and they reveal about ant biology and behavior more broadly. Tschinkelstarts the book by describing just how he studies ants nest - an arduous excavation process which involves first filling the nests with plaster, molten metal or wax. But this is a book driven by fascinating questions and the experiments the author has devised to try and answer them. How does nest architecture vary across ant species? How are new nests excavated during colony relocation? Are the ants organized within the nest? Do ants have "architectural plans?" What is the effect of all this nest excavation on soils? And how does the division of labor within the nest work? Ultimately, Tschinkel provides answers to many of these questions, but also acknowledges what mysteries, including why nests evolved in the first place, still remain. In telling this story, Tschinkel introduces readers to the surprising beauty and architectural complexity of underground ant nests and to how scientific research on them is done"--
Download or read book Planet of the Ants The Hidden Worlds and Extraordinary Lives of Earth s Tiny Conquerors written by Susanne Foitzik and published by The Experiment, LLC. This book was released on 2022-03-29 with total page 361 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: “Beautifully illustrated with color photographs, the book offers a view into parallels between seemingly out-of-this-world ant societies and our own, including cities, an intense work ethic, division of labor, intragroup cooperation combined with genocidal outgroup warfare, even a kind of to-the-death national loyalty. The authors’ scientific rigor is matched by their joy in their subjects.”—The Wall Street Journal Shortlisted for the 2022 Helen and Kurt Wolff Translator’s Prize This sweeping portrait of the world’s uncontested six-legged conquerors will open your eyes to the secret societies thriving right beneath your feet—and shift your perspective on humanity. The closer you get to ants, the more human they look. Ants build megacities, tend gardens, wage wars, and farm livestock. Ants have flourished since the age of the dinosaurs. There are one million ants for every one of us. Engineered by nature to fulfill their particular roles, ants flawlessly perform a complex symphony of tasks to sustain their colony—seemingly without a conductor—from fearsome army ants, who stage twelve-hour hunting raids where they devour thousands, to gentle leafcutters cooperatively gardening in their peaceful underground kingdoms. Acclaimed biologist Susanne Foitzik has traveled the globe to study these master architects of Earth. Joined by journalist Olaf Fritsche, Foitzik invites readers deep into her world in both the field and the lab. Exploring these insects’ tiny yet incredible lives will inspire new respect for ants as a global superpower. Publisher’s note: Planet of the Ants was previously published in hardcover as Empire of Ants.
Download or read book Ant Encounters written by Deborah M. Gordon and published by Princeton University Press. This book was released on 2010-03-22 with total page 182 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: How do ant colonies get anything done, when no one is in charge? An ant colony operates without a central control or hierarchy, and no ant directs another. Instead, ants decide what to do based on the rate, rhythm, and pattern of individual encounters and interactions--resulting in a dynamic network that coordinates the functions of the colony. Ant Encounters provides a revealing and accessible look into ant behavior from this complex systems perspective. Focusing on the moment-to-moment behavior of ant colonies, Deborah Gordon investigates the role of interaction networks in regulating colony behavior and relations among ant colonies. She shows how ant behavior within and between colonies arises from local interactions of individuals, and how interaction networks develop as a colony grows older and larger. The more rapidly ants react to their encounters, the more sensitively the entire colony responds to changing conditions. Gordon explores whether such reactive networks help a colony to survive and reproduce, how natural selection shapes colony networks, and how these structures compare to other analogous complex systems. Ant Encounters sheds light on the organizational behavior, ecology, and evolution of these diverse and ubiquitous social insects.
Download or read book The Humane Gardener written by Nancy Lawson and published by Chronicle Books. This book was released on 2017-04-18 with total page 226 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In this eloquent plea for compassion and respect for all species, journalist and gardener Nancy Lawson describes why and how to welcome wildlife to our backyards. Through engaging anecdotes and inspired advice, profiles of home gardeners throughout the country, and interviews with scientists and horticulturalists, Lawson applies the broader lessons of ecology to our own outdoor spaces. Detailed chapters address planting for wildlife by choosing native species; providing habitats that shelter baby animals, as well as birds, bees, and butterflies; creating safe zones in the garden; cohabiting with creatures often regarded as pests; letting nature be your garden designer; and encouraging natural processes and evolution in the garden. The Humane Gardener fills a unique niche in describing simple principles for both attracting wildlife and peacefully resolving conflicts with all the creatures that share our world.
Download or read book My World written by Christine Butterworth and published by . This book was released on 1988 with total page 16 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Dr Eleanor s Book of Common Ants written by Eleanor Spicer Rice and published by University of Chicago Press. This book was released on 2017-08-03 with total page 145 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In this witty, accessible, and beautifully illustrated guide, Eleanor Spicer Rice, Alex Wild, and Rob Dunn metamorphose creepy-crawly revulsion into myrmecological wonder. Dr. Eleanor?s Book of Common Ants provides an eye-opening entomological overview of the natural history of species most noted by project participants. Exploring species from the spreading red imported fire ant to the pavement ant, and featuring Wild?s stunning photography, this guide will be a tremendous resource for teachers, students, and scientists alike. But more than this, it will transform the way we perceive the environment around us by deepening our understanding of its littlest inhabitants, inspiring everyone to find their inner naturalist, get outside, and crawl across the dirt?magnifying glass in hand.
Download or read book The Fire Ants written by Walter R. Tschinkel and published by Harvard University Press. This book was released on 2013-03-11 with total page 748 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Walter Tschinkel’s passion for fire ants has been stoked by over thirty years of exploring the rhythm and drama of Solenopsis invicta’s biology. Since South American fire ants arrived in Mobile, Alabama, in the 1940s, they have spread to become one of the most reviled pests in the Sunbelt. In The Fire Ants, Tschinkel provides not just an encyclopedic overview of S. invicta—how they found colonies, construct and defend their nests, forage and distribute food, struggle among themselves for primacy, and even relocate entire colonies—but a lively account of how research is done, how science establishes facts, and the pleasures and problems of a scientific career. Between chapters detailed enough for experts but readily accessible to any educated reader, “interludes” provide vivid verbal images of the world of fire ants and the people who study them. Early chapters describe the several failed, and heavily politically influenced, eradication campaigns, and later ones the remarkable spread of S. invicta’s “polygyne” form, in which nests harbor multiple queens and colonies reproduce by “budding.” The reader learns much about ants, the practice of science, and humans’ role in the fire ant’s North American success.
Download or read book The Ant s Nest written by Miriam Aronin and published by Bearport Publishing. This book was released on 2009-08-01 with total page 36 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Welcome to the ant's huge underground city. Here you'll discover how the insects rest, take care of their queen, and raise their young. You'll also find out how some ants grow their own food and carry out other surprising tasks as they go about their busy lives"--P. [4] of cover.
Download or read book A Strange Guest in an Ant s Nest written by Sharon Clark and published by . This book was released on 2017-03-31 with total page 26 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Children 5 to 9 will enjoy this picture book, told from the perspective of Amber, a meadow ant. Kids will learn fascinating facts and behaviours of these insects and how ants can live together in harmony with creatures very different from themselves. Children can learn from Amber's experience, encouraging them to embrace the differences of others.
Download or read book Ants written by Laura K. Murray and published by Creative Education. This book was released on 2015-07-15 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A kindergarten-level introduction to ants, covering their growth process, behaviors, the nests they call home, and such defining features as their antennae.
