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The materials were first purchased.
24 16oz deli containers were filled with 2.5 inches of play sand and one
antlion was placed in each container.
Every week, each plastic container (i.e. each antlion pit) was given a
small cricket
The crickets were purchased from a pet supply store.
The remaining sand (100lbs) was spread into a $24"\times24"$ plastic
container at a depth of at least 2 inches.
A meter stick and a pen was used to make one-inch separated marks on the
vertical and horizontal axes of the box so the antlions' pits' locations
could be observed.
Using the grid, each trial was started by distributing a group of
antlions in an array shape (the dimensions and populations of which are
in a table below), and equally spaced between eachother and the walls,
all inserted around the same time.
%%% Need to make that table
Antlions were transferred between the small containers and the
experimental environment by scooping them with a plastic spoon and
sifting the sand from the antlion with a sieve.
After the first and second days of each two-day trial, the coordinate
locations, diameters, and depths of each antlion pit were recorded for
later analysis.
After each trial, all living antlions were restored to their pits and
dead antlions disposed of.
Further trials repeated these same protocols except with modified space
restrictions and several methods to disrupt potential communication
pathways.
Each disruption method was trialled with each space restriction, each
trial run over a two day period.
There are three different space restrictions and three different
disruption methods.
The space restrictions are $24"\times24"$ (the initial box size),
$16"\times16"$, and $12"\times12"$ (constructed in the original
container by cardboard and duct tape barriers).
The three disruption methods are ``trail erasure,'' ``fake pits,'' and
``artificial obstacles,'' making for nine trials in total.
``Trail erasure'' will be, once a day, brushing away old trails in the
sand which antlions have dug out, in an effort to determine if the
reduction of this possible communication pathway will destabilize or
change the pit distribution.
``Fake pits'' will be sand scooped out in an inverse cone to mimic an
antlion pit, with two or three placed uniformly randomly once a day,
except when it would sit on top of an existing pit.
This will show if the antlions are intelligently avoiding pits or if
cannibalism creates the patterns that are observed in their
distribution.
``Artificial obstacles'' are small stones or hard plastic barriers with
a minimum height of .5in above the sand to determine if antlions are
aware of the shape of their settlement region and use that to organize
the group.
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