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more work on ants. They too went to the Broadway medians, but
then also to Riverside Park where, lo and behold, they found a
new ant species, apparently not recorded in North America
before, a species closely related to the European ant, Lasius
emarginatus. They also found thirty other species, some of them
the same species the Frontiers of Science class and Marko
found, but many of them new, at least to Manhattan, and in some
cases to the state of New York. More recently, Dr. Amy Savage
has begun to survey ants all around New York and she too has
added to the list of what we know, having compiled the most
complete list yet of the species of the city, species both common
and rare.
As for the Frontiers of Science, in 2005 it was cancelled, but its
mission, to help everyone do and understand science and the
living world, lives on. The course was part of what inspired me to
work with Andrea Lucky to figure out a way to get students all
around the U.S., not just those from Columbia University, to be
able to get out into their own cities and see the ants. Now they
can. The School of Ants project allows anybody, anywhere in the
U.S. (and soon more parts of the world) to sample ants. Imagine
what lives undocumented still in the subways. Imagine what lives
in apartments. We have to imagine, because we don’t yet know,
but we could. And so if you do live in New York, make a kit, put
some cookies out and wait, for something to come marching,
though just what it will be no one is sure.
Photo Gallery - Studying Ants in New York
Dr. Amy Savage is leading efforts to study and better understand the
lives of ants in New York City. - © Holly Menninger
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