Clarke Middle School


Athens-Clarke County, Georgia

Prepared By: Leslie Cagle, Shawn Kuriger, Gwendolyn M. Motz, D. Ryan Pahl, and Chrisshon Webb


Legal Site Description | Quad Map | Aerial Photo | Site Description | Biological Description | Ant Analysis | References


The Physical Description

Legal Description of Clarke Middle School

After a thorough search, it became obvious that a legal site description is not available. The latest official deed, although, was discovered and can be viewed in its completeness.

Page 1 of Deed
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  Page 2 of Deed
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  Page 3 of Deed
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(Click Image to View the Page in its entirety.)

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A small-scale map was located and can be viewed in its entirety by clicking on the image.

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Large-Scale Quad Map for Athens-Clarke County
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Courtesy of United States Environmental Protection Agency.

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Aerial Photographs of Clarke Middle School


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Courtesy of Jimmy Bramblett, NRCS
(Click Photo For A Higher Resolution Image.)

As depicted in the aerial photograph, there are a number of streets around the Clarke Middle School campus. In addition, some streams are visible on the photograph, but they appear too distant to have a great impact on the site. On the other hand, the nearby buildings, streets, and parking lots are likely to have a great impact on the site. It is likely the rain run-off from these areas causes a great deal of erosion, which in turn destroys the flora and faunal communities in its pathway. From the photograph, it appears that the surrounding Clark Middle School areas are heavily populated and "urbanized." With this population comes pollution, which in turn greatly hinders the livelihood of the flora and faunal communities.

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Description of Clarke Middle School

Clarke Middle School, located on 200 Alps Road, is on the corner of two busy streets, Baxter and Alps. Located in the small urban area of Athens, the site consists of a single small split-level building and a few trailors. There are pine trees scattered out in front in the grassy area between the school and Baxter Street. Planted shrubs and other trees make up a majority of the landscape around the school building. There are a few small gardens on the left side of the school that do no appear to be readily successful. A forest area lines the back of the landscape. No streams are present on the site. Although the Oconee River flows nearby, the vegetation does not appear to be affected. Baxter Street and Alps Road (which later dead ends into the Atlanta highway) are heavily trafficked roads. The pollution from the cars likely affects adversely affects the vegatation on the site. For instance, it is likely that the high degree of pollution decreased the growth of herbs, as we had a very difficult time locating the desired number of herbs.

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The Biological Description

Trees

Native/
Exotic

Planted/
Natural

Forest
Habitat

Grassy
Habitat

Other
Habitat

 

Cercis
canadensis
("Red Bud Tree")

Native

Planted

No

Yes

No

 

Castanea
pumila
("Chinquupin Oak")

  Native

Planted

No

Yes

No

 

Ginkgo
biloba
("Ginkgo Tree")

 Native

Planted

No

Yes

No

 

Elaeagnus
umbellata
("Autumn Olive Tree")

  Native

Planted

No

Yes

No

 

Acer
rubrum
("Red Maple")

  Native

Planted

No

Yes

No

 

Quercus
  nigra
("Water Oak")

  Native

Planted

No

Yes

No

 

Quercus
  alba
("White Oak")

  Native

Planted

No

Yes

No

 

Pinus
  taeda
("Loblolly Pine Tree")

  Native

  Natural

Yes

Yes

  Yes

 

Magnolia
  grandiflora
("Magnolia Tree")

  Native

Planted

No

Yes

No

 

Cornus
  florida
("Flowering Dogwood")

  Native

Planted

No

Yes

No

Herbs

Native/
Exotic

Planted/
Natural

 Forest
Habitat

Grassy
Habitat

Other
Habitat

 

Robinia
  pseudoacacia
("Black Locus") 

  Native

Natural

Yes

No

Yes

 

Campsis
  radicans
("Trumpet Creeper")

  Native

Natural

Yes

No

Yes

 

Hydrocotyl
  americana

  Native

Natural

Yes

No

Yes

 

Daucus
  carota
("Queen Ann's Lace") 

  Native

Planted

No

Yes

Yes

 

Hydrangea
  quercifolia
("Oak Leaf Hydrangea") 

Native 

Planted

No

Yes

Yes

 

Trifolium
  repens
("White Clover") 

  Native

Natural

Yes

Yes

Yes

 

Hosta
  undulata

  Native

Planted

No

Yes

No

 

[No Picture Available] 

 

  Digitaria
ischaemum
("Smooth Crabgrass")

  Native

Natural

No

Yes

No

 

[No Picture Available] 

 

  Trifolium
agrarium
("Hop Clover")

  Native

Natural

No

Yes

No

 

[No Picture Available] 

 

  Trifolium
arvense
("Rabbit-foot Clover")

  Native

Natural

Yes

Yes

No

 

[No Picture Available] 

 

  Polygonum
caespitosum
("Long-bristled Smartweed")

  Native

Natural

Yes

Yes

No

 

[No Picture Available] 

 

  Tragopogon
porrifolius
("Oyster Plant")

  Native

Natural

No

Yes

No

 

[No Picture Available] 

 

  Viola
wittrockiana
("Pansies")

  Native

Planted

No

Yes

No

 

[No Picture Available] 

 

  Rhus
toxicodendron
("Poison Ivy")

  Native

Natural

Yes

Yes

No

 

[No Picture Available] 

 

  Tulipa

("Tulips")

  Native

Planted

No

Yes

No

 

[No Picture Available] 

 

  Plantago
lanceolata
("English Plantain")

  Native

Natural

No

Yes

No

 

[No Picture Available] 

 

  Plantago
major
("Common Plantain")

  Native

Natural

No

Yes

No

 

[No Picture Available] 

 

  Taraxacum
officinale
("Common Dandelion")

  Native

Natural

No

Yes

No

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Ant Analysis

The results of our experiment showed that five ants are prevalent in our habitats. We found that only 58 of the 277 ants collected were not fire ants. Fire ants have proven to be very invasive predators with large colonies that can have multiple queens.

In our results we observed that more ants were captured in the forested area rather than the sunny area. 189 or our 277 ants were located in the forest. This came unsuspectedly, because fire ants are expected to be prevalent in sunny areas. However, there appeared to be a steady amount of traffic through the sunny area of the site. Human activity likely helps disperse the ants to other locations.

One vial contained only black ants. It is believed that the ants send out certain pheromones to inform other members of the location of food. Pheromones are species specific.

However, we did find differenct morphs amongst the fire ants. This could be a result of several different ecological factors. Ecological factors are important in shaping the disbursement of ants in the environment. The rate of growth of colonies is a result of the availability of resources such as food and nesting. Other factors effecting the growth of colonies are predation, disease, parasitism, and competition. Disruptive selection is a result of competition. This type of selection calls out individuals most common in a population. In this situation, polymorphic species are likely to arise.

Interactions between species are density dependent. In dense populations of ants there, mixing of nonnestmates occured (1). This may accelerate the breakdown in discrimination ability. A major result of this is an increase in polymorphism. In the dense populations, there is a greater tolerance of foreign queens and allowance of queens to be born in the nest to mate at home. In addition, workers may be willing to accept multiple queens or may have a faulty system for detecting chemical cues. Ants use pheromones as a method of communiction (2). On the other hand, it could be said that the cues are the result of the founder effect. With this, there could have been a reduction in the diversity of chemical cues. And lastly, it may be explained that faulty chemical cues are simply cues that are not as effective as other cues in the environment because of the high-density of the colonies.

To View the Documentation of the Number of Morphospecies of Ants Collected, Please Click Here!

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References

1) Ross, Kenneth G. April 1996. "Social Evolution in a New Envirnoment: The Case of Introduced Fire Ants."

Evolution, Vol. 93, pp. 3021-3025.

2) Ross, Kenneth G. January 1992. "Strong Selection on a Gene that Influences Reproductive Competition in a Social

Insect." Nature, Vol. 355, pp. 347-349.

Additional Sources

Brockman, C. Frank. Trees of North America. New York: Golden Press, 1968.

Niering, William A. The Audubon Society Field Guide to North American Wildflowers. New York: Alfred A. Knopf,

1979.

Petrides, Geore A. A Field Guide to Trees and Shrubs. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1958.

Acknowledgements
We would like to thank Trudy Stiber, Don Norris, Candice, Bruce Pruitt, Pete Kalla, Ron Weldon and Hoke Howard from the Science and Ecosystem Support division of the US Environmental Protection Agency. Thank you so much!

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