The main purpose of our visit is to collect Veromessor. andrei forager ants and bring them back to the lab on UCLA campus. This preliminary research will help me create optimal lab conditions and methods that allow me to answer my larger, more elaborate, research questions in the spring and summer of 2020. My graduate research broadly address whether environmental factors or the genetic composition of Veromessor andrei ant colonies has a larger influence on the architecture and structural features of the nests they build We plan to camp on the reserve for one night (Friday 9/20/19). We would arrive around 4pm on Friday 9/20 and that same evening we would go out into the field and scout the sites where Will Petry has previously found V. andrei colonies. Then very early the following morning 9/20 we would go out and actually collect foragers from those same locations. It would be a very quick trip because we will only be collecting the ants in the morning (9/21) as this is really the only time of day that they are actively out of the nest foraging.

Approved