Physical Description:                   Legal Description                   Quad Map                   Aerial Photograph                   Site Description                  Soil Samples     also: Biological Description                 and  References

Legal Description:

        "All that tract or parcel of land, situate, lying and being in the 220th District, G.M., Athens-Clarke County, Georgia, containing 45.063 acres as shown on plat and survey entitles "Survey for Clarke County School District," dated June 30, 1993, revised November 12, 1993, made by Ben McLeroy & Associates, Inc., Ben McLeroy, registered land surveyor, recorded in Plat book 30, Page 352, in the office of the Clerk of the superior Court of Athens-Clarke County, Georgia, and being more particularly described according to said plat as follows:

        Beginning at an iron pin on the southeasterly side of old Elberton Road said iron pin being situate south 23 degrees 26 minutes 56 seconds west 93.60 feet from the intersection of the center line of Old Elberton Road and the extended line center line of Pittard Road; running thence along lands now or formerly of Technology Associates south 59 degrees 11 minutes 27 seconds east 2,065.53 feet to an iron pin; running thence along lands now or formerly of Allen White south 44 degrees 16 minutes 31 seconds west 951.58 feet to an iron pin; running thence along lands now or formerly of Dantzler north 59 degrees 53 minutes 00 seconds west 1,625.84 feet to an iron pin; running thence along lands now or formerly of new Grove Baptist Church north 59 degrees 53 minutes 00 seconds west 367.46feet to iron pin on the southeasterly right of way of Old Elberton Road; running thence along said roat north 47 degrees 03 minutes 01 seconds east 634.27 feet to a point; running thence along said road and following the curvature thereof 357.09 feet to  the beginning iron pin, said curve having a chrd bearing of north 47 degrees 27 minutes 05 seconds east and a chord distance of 357. 09 feet;"
                                                                    provided by the Athens-Clarke County courthouse

 

quad map provided by UGA Science Library

aerial photograph provided by county planning office

Site Description:

        Coile Middle School is located in a rural area.  The highways that surround the school have little traffic. To reach Coile Middle School from either the East or West, one would need to trave Old Eberton Road. To reach Coile from the North or South, one would need to travel Pittard road   There is one large building, a large parking area for the faculty, and a smaller parking are for visitors.  A dense forest is behind the school, and a thin forested area is on the left of the school.  Planted gardens are located in front of the school and along the parking lots.  There are no streams or rivers around the campus.  The landscape in front of the school is flat and very ornate.  Flowering plants and bushes surround the main building of the school.  If the campus was in an urban environment, I think that the natural life on the school grounds would be reduced.  The forested areas provide habitats for many organisms.  Eliminations of the plant life would most certainly result in a cut in the diversity of the local fauna.
 

Tree Identification and Herb: (habitat information is referring to where said plants occured at the school site)

 

Tree	Native/Exotic	Planted/Natural	Forest Habitat	Grassy habitat	Other Habitat
Acer Saccharinum	N	N	Yes	No	Yes
Acer rubrum	N	P/N	Yes	Yes	Yes
Cornis florida	N	N	Yes	No	No
Ostrya virginiana	N	N	Yes	No	No
Pinus taeda	N	N	Yes	No	Yes
Quercus austrina	N	N	Yes	No	No
Quercus chapmanii	N	N	Yes	No	No
Liriodendron tulipifera	N	P/N	Yes	Yes	Yes
Ilex opaca	N	P	No	Yes	Yes
Plantanus occidentalis	N	P	No	Yes	Yes
Carya illinuensis	N	P	No	Yes	No
Quercus falcata michaux	N	P	No	Yes	No
Robinia pseudoacacia	N	P	No	Yes	No
Betula nigra	N	P	No	Yes	No

H. fulva

L. sempervirens

T. officinale

T. repens

P. lanceoolata

M. ringens

R. fruticosis

D. involucrata

V. labrusca

M. repens

R. radicans

S. canadensis

S. rotundifolia

L. borealis

T. borealis

M. canadense

Ant Experiment:

        Fire ants will be found in the cleared habitat instead of in the forested habitat due to their preferential selection of habitats with dry soil.  The soil in a sunny habitat is less porous than that in a damp habitat.  It is probably easier for ants to traverse dry soil regions, possibly enabling them to carry larger food loads over this optimal soil type.

Description of Morphotypes:

             Morphotype 1: Fire ant with black at top of abdomen, yellow and brown stripes on abdomen, and 2
                                                petiole bumps

             Morphotype 2:  Fire ant with splotchy brown and yellow stripes on abdomen and 2 petiole bumps

             Morphotype 3:  Fire ant with even brown and yellow stripes on abdomen and 2 petiole bumps

             Morphotype 4:  Fire ant with yellow stripe on sides of abdomen and 2 petiole bumps

             Morphotype 5:  Black ants with a thick stripe at top of abdomen and 3 thin stripes on lower abdomen

             Morphotype 6:  Fine ants with white and yellow abdomen and 2 petiole bumps

             Morphotype 7:  Fire ant with even brown and yellow stripes on abdomen and 1 petiole bump

                Grassy Field Data

                        Baited:  Morphospecies 2 = 5 individual ants;  Morphospecies 3 = 369 individual ants;
                                     Morphospecies 4 = 73 individual ants; Morphospecies 6 = 148 individual ants
                                     Total ants = 595

                        Pitfall:  Morphospecies 2 = 1 individual ant;  Morphospecies 3 = 28 individual ants;
                                    Morphospecies 4 = 11 individual ants;  Total ants = 40
 

                        Total:   Morphospecies 2 = 6;  Morphospecies 3 = 397;  Morphospecies 4 = 84
                                    Morphospecies 6 = 148;  Total ants = 635

 
                 Forest Data

                         Baited:  Morphospecies 3 = 174 individual ants;  Morphospecies 4 = 34 individual ants;
                                      Morphospecies 5 = 155 individual ants;  Total ants = 363

                         Pitfall:  Morphospecies 3 = 11 individual ants;  Morphospecies 4 = 25 individual species;
                                     Morphospecies 5 = 1 individual ant;  Morphospecies 7 = 2 individual ants;
                                     Total ants = 39

                          Total:  Morphospecies 3 = 284;  Morphospecies 4 = 59; Morphospecies 5 = 156;
                                     Morphospecies 7 = 2;  Total ants = 402
 

                           Overall Baited = 958          Overall Pitfall = 79        Total # ants = 1037

Species Location Comparison

       4 Morphospecies found in grassy baited traps
        3 Morphospecies found in grassy pitfall traps
        3 Morphospecies found in forest baited traps
        4 Morphospecies found in forest pitfall traps

There was a 1:1 ratio between the number field and the number of forest species

A Focus on Fireants
 
        Overall there were .91 times more ants found in the grassy (sunny) habitat than in the forest (shady) habitat.  The baited traps attracted 12.1 more ants than did the pitfall traps.  There was the same amount of diversity (4 species) in both the grassy and the forested areas.  There were more ants in traps with food.  This could be because workers that find a food source take certain measures (excrete pheromones) to encourage other ants to aggregate at the food source.  We probably only found one morphospecies in each vial that contained food because of competition amongst species.  Ants probably defend their food source by fighting (outcompeting other species) in their territory.  Species of ants are antagonistic to ants of other species (Herber, 1996).  The fire ants might live in larger colonies than the black ants.  This would explain how large groups can manipulate smaller groups.  The large groups overwhelm the smaller ones and are more efficient at finding food (therefore more efficient at defending their food source.)  The communities of fire ants must be larger than the the communities of black ants.  The fire ants may have a higher degree of relatedness among colony members due to multiple queens.  This would give the workers more "incentive" to provide food for their colony.  The members of the black ant colony may have a lower degree of relatedness due to the one queen per nest.  This would in turn give them less incentive to provide food for colony members (Ross et. al., 1996).
 

References:
 

    Clarke, I. and Lee, H.  1987.  Name that Flower.  Melbourne University Press.  Australia

    Collingwood, G.H. and Brush, W.  1978.  Knowing Your Trees.  The American Forestry Association.  Washington,
            D.C.
 
    Courtenay, B. and Zimmerman, J.H.  1972.  Wildflowers and Weeds.  Van Nostrand Reinhold Company. New York,
            NY
 
    Goulet, H. and Huber, J.T.  1894.  Hymenoptera of the World: An Identification Guide to Family.  Research Branch
            Agriculture Canada.  Ottawa, Ontario
 
    Graves, A.H.  1956.  Illustrated Guide to Trees and Shrubs.  Harper and Row.  New York, NY

    Herbers, J.M. and Choiniere, E.  1996.  "Foraging Behavior and Colony Structure in Ants."  Animal Behabior.  pg.
            141-153
 
    Justice, W.S. and Bell, C.R.  1968.  Wild Flowers of North Carolina.  University of North Carolina Press.  Chapel
            Hill, NC
 
    Kricher, J.C.  and Morrison, G.  1988.  A Field Guide to Eastern Forests.  Houghton Mifflin Company.  Boston, MA

    Niering, W.A. and Olmstead, N.C.  1979.  National Audubon Society Field Guide to North American Wildflowers
            (Eastern Region).  Alfred A. Knopf Inc.,  New York, NY

    Peattie, D.  1950.  Natural History of Trees.  houghton Mifflin Company.  Boston, MA

    Petrides, G.  1972.  Field Guide to Trees and Shrubs.  Houghton Mifflin Company.  Boston, MA
 
    Porcher, R.D.  1995.  Wildflowers of the Carolina, Lowcountry, and Lower Pee Dee.  University of South Carolina.
            Columbia, SC

    Ross, K.G. & Vargo, E.L. & Keller, L.  1996.  "Social Evolution in a new Environment:  The case of Introduced Fire
            Ants."  Proclamation of National Academy of Science, USA, pg. 3021-3025
 
    Spellenberg, R.  1986.  Familiar Flowers of North America.  Chanticleer Press Edition.  Alfred A. Knopf, Inc.  New
            York, NY