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This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. Which of the following groups of ants is most likely to eat a dead nest mate?

2. Which of the following types of ants maintain many different nests although they only live in one at a time?

3. Which of the following species of ants performed poorest during a study of group transportation?

4. Which of the following terms expresses the ideal of group production with the disregard of individual needs?

5. Through what body part do ants emit pheromones?

Short Essay Questions

1. What are "sibling species?"

2. How do ant colonies treat foreign ants that wander in the nest?

3. How are ant colonies defined?

4. What is acoustic communication? How is it achieved within an ant community?

5. Why are caste systems often used within ant colonies?

6. What is a "super colonial" ant colony?

7. Why are male ants typically neglected in taxonomic studies?

8. How is ant communication categorized?

9. How has the rearing of isolated ant larvae affected scientists' understanding of reductionism?

10. How have leafcutter ants altered the landscape in which they live?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

There are many ways that ants within a colony recognize one another and differentiate between friend and foe. Explain the most common ways ants recognize each other within a colony. Then explain to two main ways through which ants learn to recognize their colony. Finally, explain the controversy surrounding Jaffe and Sanchez's discovery of the gland that produces colony odor. How has this affected how scientists view kin recognition?

Essay Topic 2

Ants are considered a highly altruistic species of animals. Define altruism. Give two examples of ways in which ants are considered altruistic creatures. Finally, explain how the altruism found within ant societies benefits the colony as a whole. Do you think ants would survive were it not for their altruistic nature?

Essay Topic 3

All ant colonies function with an intricate caste system for labor. Explain the various castes that each colony needs to survive. Explain the role of major and minor players within these castes. How do their roles vary? Finally, explain how an individual ant can move up in the hierarchy of this caste system.

(see the answer keys)

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