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How to determine colony size?


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10 replies to this topic

#1 Offline Skwiggledork - Posted June 8 2019 - 8:34 AM

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How does everyone come up with how many workers are in their larger colonies? My Tetramorium immigrans colony just moved into a new nest and I want an estimate on how many workers there are, so I can plan on how much space I will need as they continue to grow, but I don't want to sit and count say 200+ ants.ALhlRMM.jpg



#2 Offline FeedTheAnts - Posted June 8 2019 - 9:54 AM

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Look at a small group of the ants and count them exacly. Then estimate how many of those small groups are in the entire colony. It's never exact, but this is the best method. 

Hint: Colonies are almost always bigger than they seem.


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I accidentally froze all my ants 


#3 Offline Barristan - Posted June 9 2019 - 2:35 AM

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I made small web app (unfortunately only in German) to aid ant keepers in counting ants. You can select what you want to count (workers, larvae, pupae etc) and click on the object. A small circle will be drawn and everything is counted on the top.

I already thought about extending it so you select an area and only count the ants in there. The program then calculates the ants/pixels². Then you could select another larger area and use the previously calculated value to estimate the number of ants in that larger area.


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#4 Offline drtrmiller - Posted June 9 2019 - 4:53 AM

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I made small web app (unfortunately only in German) to aid ant keepers in counting ants. You can select what you want to count (workers, larvae, pupae etc) and click on the object. A small circle will be drawn and everything is counted on the top.

I already thought about extending it so you select an area and only count the ants in there. The program then calculates the ants/pixels². Then you could select another larger area and use the previously calculated value to estimate the number of ants in that larger area.

 

Maybe by the time we're old, some kid will leverage machine learning to identify and count the ants automatically.


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#5 Offline Acutus - Posted June 9 2019 - 7:00 AM

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I made small web app (unfortunately only in German) to aid ant keepers in counting ants. You can select what you want to count (workers, larvae, pupae etc) and click on the object. A small circle will be drawn and everything is counted on the top.

I already thought about extending it so you select an area and only count the ants in there. The program then calculates the ants/pixels². Then you could select another larger area and use the previously calculated value to estimate the number of ants in that larger area.

any chance of an English version? :D


Billy

 

Currently keeping:

Camponotus chromaiodes

Camponotus castaneus

Formica subsericea


#6 Offline Barristan - Posted June 9 2019 - 8:39 AM

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any chance of an English version? :D

 

 

I translated the app, you can download it here.

 

Just unzip it and open the html file in the folder antcounter_en.

Counting progress is automatically stored in your browser's local storage. So if you reopen the same file later all the markers are still there.


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#7 Offline Acutus - Posted June 9 2019 - 10:10 AM

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Wow! that was quick! :D I got it but what kind of file do I open?


Billy

 

Currently keeping:

Camponotus chromaiodes

Camponotus castaneus

Formica subsericea


#8 Offline Barristan - Posted June 9 2019 - 10:19 AM

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Wow! that was quick! :D I got it but what kind of file do I open?

 

if you unzip the file there is only a single file in the newly created folder, called antcounter.html this one.



#9 Offline Acutus - Posted June 9 2019 - 11:21 AM

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Got it!!! :D Says I have around 400 workers!! and 1 Queen. There at least 100 in the out world too!

 

Ant Count 1

Edited by Acutus, June 9 2019 - 2:29 PM.

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Billy

 

Currently keeping:

Camponotus chromaiodes

Camponotus castaneus

Formica subsericea


#10 Offline Acutus - Posted June 9 2019 - 2:34 PM

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Barristan This Rocks!! :D I love it! Here's a better pic of how it works. 

 

Ant Count 2

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Billy

 

Currently keeping:

Camponotus chromaiodes

Camponotus castaneus

Formica subsericea


#11 Offline CatsnAnts - Posted June 9 2019 - 4:56 PM

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Dang, that’s pretty cool!

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