Yes, the crawburrs participate in the Jasper Ridge Ant Survey. Listen to Matt explain a bit about the survey HERE.
What do we do? Well, we identify ant types. "Ant Counting" is a bit of a misnomer. We don't actually count the number of ants. We count the number of ant types.
How does this all work? Well, a grid system has been superimposed over Jasper Ridge, and twice every year volunteers hike out to each grid intersection and count the ant types located there. This has been going on for over 20 years now, and we can see how the Argentine Ant, a particularly invasive species, is doing in its bid to take over the world!
But first, if you are a newby ant-counter, you get trained. There are about 10 different kinds of ants you might run across when you are looking for them, and you have to know how to identify them. Some are pretty easy to identify. Others look quite a bit alike.
So they train you to identify all the Ant Types here. There were 15 ant types on the last table they handed out, from the teeny tiny Pheidole (which is so small I could hardly see it even when I knew it was in my capture jar) to the HUGE Camponotus (Carpenter Ant) which I actually killed sucking up into my capture jar last time, since it was so big and the sucking tube thingy was so small.
You also get trained on how to use your equipment. The GPS is easy for us. The suck-an-ant-up-thingy is weird, but I swear by it. You can suck ants into a jar, and identify them later. And SOMETIMES you can identify them by the odor you get when you suck them up! (the Banana Creme Pie Ant (Tapinoma) and the formaldehyde flavored Formica Ants come to mind). :(
On Survey Day, they assign a set of the grid intersections to you. Depending upon your ant-identifying skillz, they might team you up with an experienced person. At this last survey, burr and I finally lost our "training wheels" according to Matt , and went solo. We did grid intersections for a couple of hours on a rainy day just inside the Goya Gate, where this cache is located.
I'm getting a little bit long-winded, describing the Ant Survey. But it's a fun, educational, and very different thing to do a couple of times a year, and they are always looking for more people to help. Geocachers are perfect! I mean - think about it. We use GPS's to look for little things in the woods! Let me know in your log if you are interested in helping.