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An Evaluation Of Elemental Composition Of Soils Associated With Ground Nesting Ants In The Family Formicidae In Somerset County, Maine, Haley H. Depner

All Student Scholarship

Ants are keystone organisms and engineers in many ecosystems, playing an important role in nutrient cycling and rearrangement of organic and inorganic materials through foraging, waste management and, in subterranean species, nest construction and maintenance. In this study, I conducted elemental analysis of soils for calcium, copper, iron, potassium, manganese and zinc in and around the colonies of subterranean nesting ants. The two-step analysis used in this study utilizes the efficiency of X-Ray Fluorescence (XRF) Spectrometry to look for overall trends in elemental composition followed by Flame Atomic Absorbance (AA) to achieve higher resolution of select elements of interest as …