(07/05/2020) Introduction!

My project is looking at variation in phenotypic traits of hairy wood ants (Formica lugubris) as indicators of habitat quality. I have some samples of ants taken by a previous MSc student from sites in Scotland. The original plan was to do some different measurements; most likely head width, number of hairs (still finalising which part of the body this will be from) and colour. However, with the changes in circumstances due to COVID-19, things have had to be adapted slightly. My supervisors were well organised and managed to borrow some last minute equipment from labs for me, including microscopes, plus a speedy pick-up of a box of ants the day before lockdown. In the rush there’s been a few issues that have cropped up, but we’re troubleshooting our way through and it looks like they’ve mostly been solved now, it’s just taken longer to sort than if I had access to labs. Save one last issue – getting good enough photos of the ants for doing the colour work.

Originally I would have been using the microscope cameras in the labs to get pictures, and processing them through a computer programme to compare the darkness of the cuticles (a trait that’s been linked with colony health in other studies of different wood ants). Now I’m working from home, I’m left with my phone and a stereo microscope. So the plan is to be a bit creative and hopefully (fingers crossed) use my phone, a microscope phone adapter, a manual photography app and a DIY light box to standardise conditions and get some useable photos. I’m still working at it, and my next steps are the construction of the box and me getting to grips with which manual photography app will be best for the task. I’m still unsure about whether the quality I can get will be good enough, but we’ll find out soon.