BIOLOGY LAB Brittany Lavin

TAXONOMY Scientific Name: Nyssa sylvatica var. biflora Kingdom: Plantae Order: Cornales Family: Cornaceae Genus: Nyssa Species: N. Biflora

WHERE ARE THEY FOUND? Common to wet habitats Native to Florida Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, Florida, Texas Warm humid climate Water quality is more important then soil type Stunted growth (50%) if in still water

TRAITS OF TREE About 30 – 50 ft tall Bark is about 1 in thick, brownish/grey Leaves : oblong dark yellow-green 2” – 4” long Produces a flower : cluster on hairy peduncles, white Fruit: Drupe- dark blue oval fruit, bitter. The pits have ribs Twiggs: stout, red/brown

TAXONOMY Kingdom: Animalia Phylum: Arthropoda Class: Insecta Order: Hymenopetera Suborder: Apocrita Superfamily: Vespoidea Family: Formicidae

STRUCTURE Six legs Legs broken into 3 segments Lives days Compound eyes 3 body segments Antennas 2 stomachs Exoskeleton Wings (male and queens only)

ROLE Symbiotic relations with other ants, plants, fungi suppression of pest populations and aeration of the soil Also be a source of food Used in the lab to study Ultraviolet vision was discovered in ants Used to examine predictions of hypothesis Social insects-colonies

HABITAT Soil or wood Make colonies Spend most of their life working for queen ant

FUN FACTS Related to bees and wasps Can lift up to 20 times their own weight In relationship to their size, if a human was as fast as them, they could run at the speed of a racehorse Communicate using touch sound and chemical signaling Bite, some sting and can be fatal Birds keep ants on them so they can defend them from parasites

REFRENCES Forestry.state.al.us/PDFs/100/swamp_tupelo.pdf Plants.ifas.ufl.edu/node/295 En.m.Wikipedia.org/wiki/Nyssa_biflora Dendro.cnre.vt.edu.dendrology/syllabus/factsheet.cfm?ID