This project aims to use images and specimen data housed in AntWeb.org to quantify and analyze ant coloration. The open source program Elasticsearch (https://github.com/elastic/elasticsearch) is used to store and handle this data.
Includes Python scripts to import AntWeb data from the web into Elasticsearch, extract and save color information from specimen images and create various visualizations of color data.
Includes R scripts pull ant data from Elasticsearch, use data from the included GIS files with specimens and run various analyses on Elasticsearch ant data. Repo may also include other color and image analysis projects related to AntWeb.
Outstanding questions include:
- What is extent of variation in ant color?
- How does color in ants vary with latitude, temperature, elevation, UV-B radiation exposure and other linear environmental parameters?
- How does ant color vary across ant castes and does caste-based color variation vary across genera?
- Is ant color at all related to habitat or microhabitat?
- To what extent is color conserved across clades and/or genera?
- Ultimately, can these explanatory factors be effectively quantified using a model?
The first published paper of the project, relating to question 3, is currently in the works!