As the summer rolls on in Britain, people enjoying the outdoors may be in for an unpleasant surprise. When the conditions are just right, thousands of black ants will erupt out of lawns, gardens, and cracks in the pavement to take flight in a festival of mating. The seemingly random outbreaks, scientists believe, are annual quests to found new ant colonies.
To find out more about exactly what those perfect conditions for flight are, the Society of Biology in the United Kingdom has teamed up with Adam Hart, an ecologist and insect expert at the University of Gloucestershire, to conduct a huge citizen science experiment. The researchers put out a call in June for the public to report sightings of flying ant outbreaks, as well as the weather conditions at the site, and already have a phenomenal response.
"I was surprised to get quite so many responses from the public ...
