Azteca ants constantly patrol their Cecropia tree, looking for intruders. When a large vertebrate, like a sloth or monkey, climbs onto the tree to eat its leaves, the vibrations alarm the colony and the ants fiercely swarm the tree, aiming to sink their sharp mandibles into the intruder to defend their host.
Bound in an intimate mutualism, Cecropia trees provide hollow nesting spaces and nutritious food bodies for Azteca ants, who return rigorous protection from herbivores and encroaching vines. Ants constantly patrol the tree, looking for intruders.
As a form of creative expression, experiencing my data in a different way, and relaying my scientific narrative with the public and other scientists, I have created the Forest of the Glowing Symbionts. These glowing tree sculptures represent specific Cecropia trees and their Azteca colonies from my collective personality field experiment. The timing of the blinking in each scaled tree is synced with real ant patrolling data from different colonies. When shaken, the lights ignite just as the colony did, with a data-based spurt of increased activity. By observing the trees' blinking patterns and how they respond to vibration, you can get a sense of the colonies' personality.