Ant Game of Thrones (Nest Box Observations)

Will ants and other arthropods be able to cope with urban heat islands?

The purpose of this project is to explore how ant communities (and other arthropods) respond to urban warming.

Observations of which ant species occupy artificial nest boxes in urbanized and undeveloped (rural) forested habitats will allow us to quantify the impacts of urban heat islands on interactions among ant species (they compete strongly for access to nest sites) and how stable the community is as a whole.

We have constructed artificial nest boxes and placed them in urbanized and undeveloped areas around Cleveland, Ohio, and are aiming to monitor these nest boxes approximately monthly during the snow-free season.

You don't have to be an ant expert to help! All we need is the Date the Nest Box is Observed; the ID # of the Nest Box (so we can georeference the box); a Yes/No descriptor of whether the box has something living inside it (frequently this will be an ant colony, but sometimes spiders, termites, and centipedes live in the nest boxes too); and a photo of the contents of the nest box.

To photograph the nest box, gently raise the covering tile on the nest box and snap the photo for uploading to iNaturalist. We'll take care of the identifications.

Check out our journal posts for additional information and details on how to get involved. less ↑