The Effects of Light and Darkness on Harvester Ants - Lab Report Example

The experiment was divided into 3 groups including the control group and the experimental group. The two experimental groups had both moist and dry sand but one had darkness and light while the other had darkness. Based on the results, it was observed that there was a difference in the effect of light and darkness on the ability of the ant to dig the tunnel. Also, the ants were observed to have a great ability to dig tunnels in dry sand than wet sand. The light promoted the ants in the digging of the tunnels. Therefore, it can be concluded that light supports the ant in digging the tunnels while darkness does not. This is clearly evident in the group of darkness. In this case, the measurements of the tunnel are lower in this group than that of the light group both for dry and wet sand. It was also observed that the ants were more capable of digging tunnels in dry sand than in wet sand. This is true because according to the literature, it is well known that these ants typically live in dry desert conditions. They are also favored in exposed and open areas whereby their nests can be about 4.5 meters deep underground (Lavigne, 1969). The results of the experiment were satisfactory because they were in line with the literature. They tend not to be confirmatory results and they may act as a basis for other further studies. This is because most of the issues were not considered to mimic the natural environment of the ants and this can affect their natural behavior, hence, leading to significant errors in the experiment. Thus, this can result in an unscrupulous conclusion. Also, the number of ants needs to be considered, in the experiment, the number of ants used tends not to be appropriate to give excellent results.

In conclusion, the results mean that light and darkness have an impact on the ants’ behavior which was tunnel-digging but in this case, the results are not conclusive. In this regard, it is suggested that further studies should be done to confirm the results of this experiment.