Tracking the annual cycle of Pheidole morrisi by casting their nests in wax

The ant Pheidole morrisi is the most common ant of the Apalachicola National Forest, a typical longleaf pine flatwoods ecosystem. This implies that Pheidole morrisi likely plays a significant role in this important North American ecosystem, yet many aspects of the ant's life history, including its annual cycle, remain uninvestigated. To determine the annual cycle for Pheidole morrisi a range of colony sizes will be censused by wax-casting the entire ant nest, excavating the cast, segregating sections of the cast by their depth from the surface, and retrieving the ants by melting the wax. This will provide data on what colony members are where in the nest as well as the numbers of the different members. This procedure will be repeated throughout the year to capture the major phases of the seasonal cycle, along with changes in colony demography. Combining pupal development rate, the range of temperatures pupae experience throughout the year and the number of pupae observed in casts allows the calculation of the current worker birth rate.