On 11 Aug 2004 09:24:07 GMT, (Nick Maclaren) wrote:


In article ,
Stephen Howard writes:
| On 10 Aug 2004 20:44:58 GMT, (Nick Maclaren) wrote:
|
| I have investigated the correlation between ant presence and aphid
| infestation in my garden and elsewhere and, in the cases I have seen,
| none were compatible with the hypotheses that ants spread aphids nor
| that they enhance an infestation.
|
| With all due respect, I think the use of the word 'investigated' is
| perhaps a tad over-enthusiastic... I recall that there were at least a
| couple of very significant factors that went unobserved in your study
| ( the most notable being, in the case of ants, no night-time study ).

No, you are mistaken.

No, I'm not. We discussed this some time ago and I specifically asked
if you had observed ant movement and behaviour at night. You said no,
and admitted it was a fair point. It still is.
I feel it's important to lay that caveat against any conclusions you
may have drawn from your studies.

While that is true, (a) the ants in the relevant location were all
diurnal (from separate observation) and (b) it does not affect my
investigations of patterns of infestation (checking on whether ants
spread aphids).

The former precludes the latter, surely.
Ants are highly active at night - who knows what they might have been
up to in the wee small hours?

Regards,



--
Stephen Howard - Woodwind repairs & period restorations
www.shwoodwind.co.uk
Emails to: showard{whoisat}shwoodwind{dot}co{dot}uk