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<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2><SPAN class=103560005-01072008>OK here's a kick in
the pants. Please someone check my line of reasoning.</SPAN></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2><SPAN
class=103560005-01072008></SPAN></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2><SPAN class=103560005-01072008>My fruit trees were
infested with aphid-farmer ants, so I put a sticky barrier ring around the
base. A few ants ventured into the goo, became... gooed, but the others
apparently saw and did not follow, so the ants on the ground were stuck on the
ground and the ants in the tree were stranded in the tree. The tree was
heavily infested, with perhaps ten thousand ants, and even more aphids.
</SPAN></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2><SPAN
class=103560005-01072008></SPAN></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2><SPAN class=103560005-01072008>So yesterday I
noticed that the ants were milling about on the tree, but that they appeared to
have forgotten their aphid flocks. Most of the aphids appeared
untended.</SPAN></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2><SPAN
class=103560005-01072008></SPAN></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2><SPAN class=103560005-01072008>Today I noticed
something even more curious. Most of the ants were gone! Still
skerjillions of them on the ground milling about, but the trees had only perhaps
10 to 20 percent of the original number. So all I can figure is that ants
apparently fall out of their trees. I don't know where else or how else
they would be going? Ideas?</SPAN></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2><SPAN
class=103560005-01072008></SPAN></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2><SPAN class=103560005-01072008>If they routinely
fall out of the trees upon which they farm, and just go around and climb back
up, and if now they cannot get back up, and 80 to 90 percent are gone after
two days, then it is close enough first order estimate that any given ant falls
from the tree about once a day on average or slightly more
often. </SPAN></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2><SPAN
class=103560005-01072008></SPAN></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2><SPAN class=103560005-01072008>Did anyone here
know, or did you ever observe ants falling from trees? Perhaps we
just weren't setting up the experiment correctly, or it is too difficult to see
ants falling from trees. If an ant falls an average of about once a day,
and I set up a piece of white cardboard under the tree on a platform that
disallows ants from coming up from below, I should be able to observe an ant
falling upon the cardboard at a rate of a couple per minute,
ja? </SPAN></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2><SPAN
class=103560005-01072008></SPAN></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2><SPAN class=103560005-01072008>I always assumed
that the ants protect the aphids. So what if now the ants fall out of the
tree, but the aphids don't? Would I expect to see big mean ladybugs show
up and begin to devour the unprotected aphids? Or would the ladybugs just
assume the presence of ants and go elsewhere? Any
ideas? </SPAN></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2><SPAN
class=103560005-01072008></SPAN></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2><SPAN class=103560005-01072008>Granted the extropic
angle of this particular topic is tenuous at best, so feel free to reply offlist
if this interests you, or post here until the drones start to
complain. </SPAN></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2><SPAN
class=103560005-01072008></SPAN></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2><SPAN
class=103560005-01072008>spike</SPAN></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2><SPAN
class=103560005-01072008></SPAN></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2><SPAN
class=103560005-01072008> </SPAN></FONT></DIV></BODY></HTML>