View a FREE sample

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

Short Answer Questions

1. How old is the oldest ant fossil found to date?

2. Which of the following is NOT a category that authors Holldobler and Wilson claim to be extremely complex in ant colonies?

3. What happens in during pleometriosis?

4. When did Creighton create his useful review of "Ants North of Mexico"?

5. What did scientist Santschi find that ants follow, during his experiment in 1911?

Short Essay Questions

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

2. Why does Wilson think vertebrate animals are heavily favored in science books?

3. How do Idaho harvester ants exhibit altruistic behavior?

4. What study was performed on fire ants leading to the understanding the foragers will respond to the nutritional needs of their colony?

5. What are barrack nests?

6. How is ant communication categorized?

7. What claim of colony odor did scientists Jaffe and Sanchez make in 1984?

8. What are "sibling species?"

9. What happens during the ergonomic stage of an ant colony?

10. What defense mechanism is unique to the Asian ant species known as Camponotus Saundersi?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Each ant colony goes through three distinct phases of the life cycle. Explain what happens during the founding stages of an ant colony. Explain what happens during the ergonomic stages. Finally, explain what happens during the reproductive phase. How do all three of these phases work together as a life cycle?

Essay Topic 2

The role of the queen within an ant society is one that Wilson demands much focus on throughout the text. Explain the role of the queen in starting an ant colony. What role does the queen play in decision-making for the colony as a whole? Finally, explain how the role of the queen changes as the society becomes more successful, and which members of the colony take over the decision-making process.

Essay Topic 3

In the study of kin recognition, scientists performed studies on various other animals and insects in the attempt of understanding how colonized animals recognize one another in a swarm. Choose two studies that did not involve ant colonies and explain their findings in regards to kin recognition. Explain how these two studies affected the way ant kinship was understood.

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 918 words (approx. 4 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample