This research proposal was written by Stacy Philpott  from the University of Toledo in the United States, Ohio. The purpose of this research is to bring new ideas and concepts to the table of ecological studies by introducing a more practical approach of studying agroecosystems. As stated in the proposal this will be done by studying twig nesting ants in a coffee field the reason behind using twig nesting ants as the focus organism is that they are relatively easy to manipulate and monitor compared to other congregating organisms. The main purpose for these studies to make the field of agroecology more accessible by explored the driving forces behind community assembly in tropical twig-nesting ant communities. Since this is a research proposal based around testing hypotheses  there are multiple research question that could used for this study, such as “examine changes in relative abundance of ants in years following a large-scale disturbance and correlate any observed changes with life history traits of individual species in the twig-nesting ant community”. To answer most of the research questions offered in this proposal one would need acts, behavior, or events as the data main type of data a couple other type of data that are helpful but not necessarily mandatory would be expert knowledge because the history of the twig-nesting ants helps in determining any significant changes to the twig-nesting ants behaviors. The method of analysis for the collected data would be a quantitative analysis due to monitoring nest size and how the other factors influence the total size of a colony or if those factors cause the colony to move or reduce its size. Overall this research proposal is well put together in part due to having a range of good research questions so different groups can potentially be interested in the research in some way or another. As well as the inclusion of well thought out explanation of the logical structure which at first I was confused by because the proposal in almost a two part proposal in the way of the research is suppose to open up the field of agroecology as well as being an study on twig-nesting ants. I think there is plenty of information on this research proposal that most of my classmates could find something interesting because it combines ecology and agriculture together so there is quite a bit variety in this proposal.

Link to proposal PDF: www.utoledo.edu/research/pdfs/Philpott-NSF-AntsAndAgroecosystem.pdf