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Jiangsang Lau 2-10-14

How can human action improve the tropical dry forest ecosystem that is the habitat for the Adetomyrma venatrix? Have you ever heard of the Dracula ants or sometimes called by their scientific name, Adetomyrma venatrix? The Dracula Ants belong to the phylum Arthropoda and are invertebrates. Invertebrates are animals without backbones but have exoskeletons and endoskeletons which support the animal in its movements. The phylum Arthropoda are animals that have and exoskeleton, segmented body, and jointed limbs. According to ABC News the Dracula ants have abdomens that closely resemble a wasps. The Dracula ants might be a key to finding out the broken thread of the ant evolution. The Dracula ants are being killed without the people knowing it. The Madagascans are logging and clearing forests to satisfy their own needs, and in this case the Dracula ants are being killed. Precious information and possible answer to the mystery of the ant evolution is being destroyed. The Dracula ants are very unique. They dont eat plants and animals for food, but they suck blood from the larvae. According to the article Dracula ant factsheet on ARKive this is called a form of non-destructive cannibalism. When the worker ants get really hungry they will eat the larvae. The Dracula ants have a joint between their thorax and an abdomen. They also have a stinger and dont have the ability to see. According to the article Adetomyrma venatrix, The Dracula Ant the larvae tend to crawl away from the workers when they are near them and there are tiny ant screams when the adults drink the larvaes blood. These ants dont bother people and other organisms, but more and more people are moving in, destroying their habitats and endangering the Dracula ant species. How can human actions improve the tropical dry forest ecosystem that is the habitat for the Adetomyrma venatrix?

To improve the tropical dry forest ecosystem the government can set regulations on the amount of people moving in bear the Dracula ants homes. Environmental regulations were passed since 1881 so regulations for the Dracula ants will be no problem. The government can make a big area of land around the forest off limits. But people living in Madagascar dont want to move out because they have their farms and home there. The government can hire the people as patrols and train the people as guides to the forest. This way there will be more jobs and the ants will be safer. The people of Madagascar rely heavily on logging and tavy to live. Tavy is another way of saying the slash-and-burn method. Tavy is when you convert tropical rainforests into rice fields. Logging cutting down trees and Dracula ants live in rotting logs and leaf litters. The practice of tavy doesnt really affect the ants but the burning of the fields do. The burning can set the forest on fire and clearing the forest and converting it to rice fields will kill the Dracula ants either ways. Farmers should pay penalties if they set any part of the forest on fire and if they use the Dracula ants homes to convert to rice fields. The Madagascans can also use something else besides trees for resources. The ants can be moved to a safer place in the forest. The ants can also be moved to another state or country. The ants can be moved to another forest or area that meets the Dracula ants requirements to live on. First there will need to be a place that the Dracula ants can live in. Next the ants will be captured by scientists and moved to their new and safe home. Dracula ants are an important species of ants. They are the key to understanding the evolution and behavior of the worlds most victorious insect. These special ants have a wasps waist and grisly feeding habits. These Dracula ants are important to save so that scientists can study them and find out what caused the evolution of ants to be like the Dracula ants and how. If we dont save them and just let the Madagascans settle in, clear forest and tavy valuable information will be lost.

"Dracula ant (Adetomyrma venatrix)." Dracula ant videos, photos and facts. N.p., n.d. Web. 11 Feb. 2014. <http://www.arkive.org/dracula-ant/adetomyrma-venatrix/>. "Quick Science: Dracula Ants." Quick Science: Dracula Ants. N.p., n.d. Web. 11 Feb. 2014. <http://www.willmore.net/science/ants.htm "'Dracula Ants' May Be Evolutionary Link." ABC News. ABC News Network, n.d. Web. 11 Feb. 2014. <http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/story?id=99227>.