Creature Feature: Maple Sugaring is Ant-tastic

Maple sugaring season is in full gear here at the Johnson Nature Center! While multiple maple trees are being tapped to collect the sweet sap found within, the process is also drawing in many teeny tiny visitors who come to collect their share of the sugar. We see them all the time, some better, some worse. But they nonetheless play an important role in many ecosystems throughout the world. Let’s go marching one by one into the secret world of ants.

Ants are part of the Formicidae family of insects, with well over 12,000 known species observed throughout every continent except ANTarctica (I know right?), Iceland, Greenland, and some island nations. They are distant relatives to bees and wasps, likely branching and evolving during the time of the Cretaceous period (between 145 to 65 million years ago). With their bent antennas and their hourglass-like body shapes, ants come in many shapes and sizes. No matter the appearance, all will display a pair of mandibles attached to the front head for pinching and gripping. Some are quite effective; the bullet ant of Central/South America is considered the highest on the Schmidt pain index, a reference for comparing strings from the hymenoptera order of insects (ants, bees, and wasps). 

There is a high level of social organization within an ant colony, where individuals work together to perform tasks such as brood care and labor. Within a large colony, one would expect to find workers/soldiers made up of females that do not lay eggs, a “queen” or two, which act as the egg-layers for the colony, and “drones” which are males that mate with the queens to fertilize the eggs.  Outside of the colony, some species are capable of problem-solving and overcoming obstacles, such as forming a raft on the surface of water or forming bridges between gaps using themselves as a rope to tether individuals.

Group of ants forming a raft within a bucket filled with maple sap.

In addition to communicating via sounds and contact, ants also communicate with one another through the use of pheromones - a chemical released by an organism that triggers a response among other members of the same species. For example, let's say an ant becomes squished. The squished ant may release a pheromone that signals the other ants to gather as a form of attack or defense. There are, however, risks when it comes to relying on pheromones. Some foraging army ants, for example, may get separated from the group’s pheromone trail that they are following and instead end up forming a loop. Much like the depiction of a snake eating its own tail. This phenomenon is known as an ant mill, and the ants will continuously follow the other in a circle until all perish from exhaustion. 

Lone ant attached to a sap bucket.

If you come across these little ones around our Sugarbush’s maple trees this month, fret not! They are just getting an energy drink. Literally and metaphorically.

Click here to learn more about ants!

Submitted by naturalist Zach Mork, February 2024