Re: [MidValleyNature:6805] Digest for mid-valley-nature@googlegroups.com - 4 updates in 1 topic

[Ruby Moon]

Fascinating  discussion on ants . I am now wondering about those large ant hills I saw at Breitenbush many years ago.

Ruby Moon

On Wed, Nov 16, 2022, 9:41 PM <mid-vall...@googlegroups.com> wrote:

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• [MidValleyNature:6800] Mud humps? - 4 Updates

[MidValleyNature:6800] Mud humps?

Bill Gerth <b_g...@comcast.net>: Nov 15 10:57PM -0800 Hi folks,   According to a scientific article published in 1977, those mounds are built by the ant species Formica fusca. I don't have the paper, but here is the citation...   Landa, E. R. (1977). An unusual ant nest morphology for the ant Formica fusca Linne in western Oregon (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). Pan-Pacific Entomologist 53:250-252.   I'll try to get the paper through inter-library loan and will share it if I get a copy. Cheers, Bill

Owen Dell <ow...@owendell.com>: Nov 16 09:00AM -0800 A few years ago I attended a field day at Finley. One of the staff led a discussion, and the subject of the mud humps came up. She mentioned that the prairie at that site is the only place in the entire Willamette Valley that has never been plowed. I was surprised to hear that, and while I can't verify it I will say that she seemed to be quite knowledgeable.   Has anyone seen active ants on any of the humps? I often look but the humps seem rock-hard and barren, and I find myself wondering how old they might be and whether they are occupied or abandoned.   They're quite fascinating.   Owen   On Tuesday, November 15, 2022 at 10:57:35 PM UTC-8 b_gerth wrote:

Joel Geier <clear...@peak.org>: Nov 16 12:26PM -0500 As to how long these ant mounds take to develop:   The prairie restoration in our front yard/pasture (kept wet by our drain field) has some nice mounds that have developed over the course of 10 to 12 years. They're still active -- whenever I accidentally scalp one with our mower, the ants are visibly annoyed (OK, maybe a bit of anthropomorphizing there) and set about patching the mound.   One ecologist who was working for the Institute for Applied Ecology commented that, in managed prairie restoration, it seems like these mounds develop about as fast as their mowing cycle, on sites where annual burning isn't possible. So these might be an important element of prairie "microtopography" that might be hard to replicate in some prairie restorations.   Regarding places in the Willamette Valley that haven't ever been plowed: The main prairie at Finley is almost certainly the largest remaining example of native wet prairie. There are likely other places that were grazed but not plowed, for example, the upper part of Baskett Butte. The top of Coffin Butte is likely a smaller example -- there has been some disturbance but by all indications it was grazed rather than plowed.   Another restoration biologist noted a decade or so back, as we were starting to see California winemakers buying up similarly hilly lands in the Willamette Valley as a hedge against global warming, that there are likely more prairie remnants that were never characterized or brought into protection, especially up in Polk & Yamhill counties.   Joel Geier     From: "Mid-Valley Nature" <mid-vall...@googlegroups.com> To: "Mid-Valley Nature" <mid-vall...@googlegroups.com> Sent: Wednesday, November 16, 2022 9:00:49 AM Subject: Re: [MidValleyNature:6803] Mud humps?   A few years ago I attended a field day at Finley. One of the staff led a discussion, and the subject of the mud humps came up. She mentioned that the prairie at that site is the only place in the entire Willamette Valley that has never been plowed. I was surprised to hear that, and while I can't verify it I will say that she seemed to be quite knowledgeable. Has anyone seen active ants on any of the humps? I often look but the humps seem rock-hard and barren, and I find myself wondering how old they might be and whether they are occupied or abandoned.   They're quite fascinating.   Owen   On Tuesday, November 15, 2022 at 10:57:35 PM UTC-8 b_gerth wrote:       Hi folks,   According to a scientific article published in 1977, those mounds are built by the ant species Formica fusca . I don't have the paper, but here is the citation...   Landa, E. R. (1977). An unusual ant nest morphology for the ant Formica fusca Linne in western Oregon (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). Pan-Pacific Entomologist 53:250-252.   I'll try to get the paper through inter-library loan and will share it if I get a copy. Cheers, Bill   BQ_BEGIN         BQ_BEGIN   On 11/15/2022 4:28 PM Lisa Millbank < [ https://webmail.peak.org/href | millba...@gmail.com ] > wrote:     Those thatch ants build the most impressive ant nests around here. Here's an interesting article about them: [ https://www.trailkeepersoforegon.org/mound-builders-of-the-forest-western-thatch-ants/ | https://www.trailkeepersoforegon.org/mound-builders-of-the-forest-western-thatch-ants/ ]   I think the wet prairie ants are a different species. The thatch ants' mounds are almost all vegetation rather than soil, and they seem to be forest dwellers.   Lisa   On Tue, Nov 15, 2022 at 3:46 PM Linda Fink < [ https://webmail.peak.org/href | li...@fink.com ] > wrote:   BQ_BEGIN Oregon ants that build mounds are either Harvester Ants or Thatching Ants, far as I know. I have mostly seen their mounds in open woods, like our Ponderosa Pine forest and in openings in my parents Doug fir forest. I have seen mounds close to four feet tall. Those ants pack a nasty sting. Fortunately (from my point of view) Flickers eat them. In areas where we are apt to walk, I knock down the mounds and let the Flickers go to work. They especially like the underground larvae, I've read.   Linda Fink SW Yamhill County   On 11/15/2022 11:28 AM, Lisa Millbank wrote: > <mailto: [ https://webmail.peak.org/href | mid-valley-nat...@googlegroups.com ] >. > To view this discussion on the web visit > [ https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/mid-valley-nature/CAEVJLM5RUivwSj7Md9J%3DqYDJFgvgNiq%2BAhmhVMOGYK-NbT4xOA%40mail.gmail.com | https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/mid-valley-nature/CAEVJLM5RUivwSj7Md9J%3DqYDJFgvgNiq%2BAhmhVMOGYK-NbT4xOA%40mail.gmail.com ] < [ https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/mid-valley-nature/CAEVJLM5RUivwSj7Md9J%3DqYDJFgvgNiq%2BAhmhVMOGYK-NbT4xOA%40mail.gmail.com?utm_medium=email&utm_source=footer | https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/mid-valley-nature/CAEVJLM5RUivwSj7Md9J%3DqYDJFgvgNiq%2BAhmhVMOGYK-NbT4xOA%40mail.gmail.com?utm_medium=email&utm_source=footer ] >.   -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Mid-Valley Nature" group. 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Lisa Millbank <millba...@gmail.com>: Nov 16 11:40AM -0800 Thanks Bill, for locating that paper! Here's a digital version of it: https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/56105570#page/12/mode/1up It's only a few pages long.   BugGuide says that North American ants that were formerly called *Formica fusca* are now *Formica subaenescens*. This species seems to be wide-ranging and can build different types of nests, such as under logs. I wonder if our wet prairie version of these ants may someday be recognized as a separate species.   Lisa

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