So, what are the factors that can affect the efficiency of paver ants and big-headed ants in using solar energy?

The protagonist can't help but mentally compare the basic situation of these two types of ants.

The race of the big-headed ant kingdom is the big-headed ant, or broad-knotted big-headed ant to be exact.

Broad-knotted big-headed ant, belonging to the family Hymenoptera. The length of the soldier ant is about 5.2~5.9mm, the length of the worker ant is about 3.0~3.5mm, and the length of the female ant is about 7.0~10.0mm. The head and back of the body are tan, the rest of the body is reddish-brown. He likes to live in woodlands and farmlands in the plains.

The race of the paving ant barbarians is the meadow paver ant.

Meadow paving ants also belong to the family Hymenoptera. There are no specific soldier ants, the body length of the worker ant is 2.6-3.9mm, and the length of the female ant is about 8.0mm. The body color is usually yellowish-brown to blackish-brown. The ant is commonly found in habitats such as streets, grasslands, and fields.

What are the similarities and differences between the two?

The protagonist analyzes it, and the difference in the physiological structure of the two is mainly reflected in body shape and body color.

In terms of body size, the broad-knotted big-headed ant is significantly larger than the meadow paving ant. Strictly speaking, soldier ants and worker ants are both occupational ants, and the body length of large-headed ants is about 3.0-5.9mm, while that of paving ants is 2.6-3.9mm, and the difference between the two can be more than doubled.

If you compare the queen ant, the body length of the big-headed ant queen is about 7.0-10.0mm, and the length of the paving ant queen is about 8.0mm, which is also on the small side. The same goes for male ants.

So does body size have an effect on the amount of solar energy absorbed by both?

The protagonist knows that the farther you go, the larger the same species tends to be, for example, the polar bear is larger than the Malayan bear, and the arctic fox is larger than the desert fox. But this is limited to homeothermic animals.

Because the larger the homeothermic animal, the lower its heat dissipation rate and the easier it is to maintain body temperature. In addition, the food of homeothermic animals in boreal regions is cyclical, and for a long time each year they must rely entirely on their own reserves to sustain their lives. In addition, the large body size is mainly due to the large amount of fat, and the fat layer helps to keep out the cold, such as the thick subcutaneous fat of polar bears can keep the internal organs warm.

However, insects are non-homeothermic animals, which tend to be larger the further they go to the tropics. Because smaller insects need sunlight to provide energy to their bodies, in cold regions, smaller insects are more likely to "thaw", while in the tropics, the temperature is sufficient for 24 hours, so larger insects can develop.

So, is it because paver ants are smaller than big-headed ants, so they are more adapted to cold climates? The protagonist thinks that this guess has some truth, but it should not be decisive, because the difference in size between the two types of ants is really not large, that is, millimeters, so as not to cause such a huge gap in their adaptability to the climate.

Then the only thing that can be used for comparison is the body color.

The broad-knotted big-headed ant has a reddish-brown to tan color, and is generally a darker yellow color in human vision. The body color of the meadow paving ant is yellow-brown to black-brown, and the visual vision of humans is generally earthy black. Comparatively speaking, the color of the meadow paver ant is darker than that of the broad-knotted big-headed ant.

Under the same conditions, if the color of the same substance is not the same, then it will be different in terms of temperature and heat release when it is subjected to thermal radiation. The black substance has a strong ability to absorb thermal radiation and the temperature rises quickly, while the light-colored substance has a weak ability to absorb thermal radiation and the temperature rises slowly. In addition, the molecules of dark substances expand after heating, the gap between molecules is opened, and the distance between molecules will gradually recover after stopping heating, and the heat will be released, while the light substances absorb less heat, and the distance between molecules is smaller, and the heat released is naturally less than that of dark substances under the same conditions.

So, ships trapped in the icy ocean by ice floes can use coal ash to get out, while white-looking polar bears have a dark layer of skin under their protective white fur that is used to harness solar energy.

From this point of view, darker paver ants are obviously more advantageous than big-headed ants in using sunlight? The protagonist feels that he has found the cause, and that future experiments can be improved based on this factor.

In fact, the protagonist does not understand that, in addition to their appearance, there is a decisive difference in the physiological structure of these two types of ants - there is an "antifreeze protein" in the body of the paver ant.

This particular protein is widely found in marine fish that live in the polar oceans. This protein interacts with water or ice to reduce the temperature at which the water freezes, thus keeping the body fluids of living organisms in a non-frozen state. Researchers have discovered a range of such proteins and collectively referred to them as "antifreeze proteins." With this "antifreeze protein", polar fish are able to survive in water a few degrees below zero.

Again, with this protein, the paver ants can still ensure that they are not frozen in winter when the temperature is only a few degrees below zero.

Therefore, in the temporary departure base of the paving ant barbarian army, although the base is dug very shallowly and there are no heating facilities, the paving ants who spend the night in it are only slightly frozen, and they can still move as usual the next day, and they will be alive again when they are charged in the sun.

And if the big-headed ants are allowed to spend the night in such a place, they will definitely lose a lot of money overnight.

Now, due to the lack of information, the protagonist believes that the big-headed ant and the paver ant are due to the difference in body color, which causes them to absorb sunlight differently.

So, the next day, the protagonist sets out to make up for the lack of color in the big-headed ants.

Ten new test subjects were selected today, again five worker ants and five soldier ants. Yesterday's test subject can replenish the stamina lost yesterday in the nest** today.

The subjects do not go out directly, but the protagonist goes to the sunbathing area early in the morning, and uses the black soil collected from the ground to cover the flat ground on the bark of the tree.

Since the protagonist works alone, it also takes the protagonist several hours to spread this small piece of land with a thin layer of soil grains.

Later, the subject door went out and came to this experimental area.

The protagonist still asks them to move every half hour to see the results of absorbing solar energy.

Today's experiment was slightly better than yesterday's, and after about an hour and a half, the subject's movements were already relatively neat, half an hour faster than yesterday.

However, this neatness is only relative, and today's and yesterday's big-headed ants still can't move as freely as paver ants.

And today, like yesterday, the relatively suitable time for the big-headed ants to be active is still before 3 o'clock in the afternoon, and as the sun altitude decreases, the big-headed ants are getting more and more sluggish. In order to prevent the freezing situation like yesterday, the protagonist had to take everyone back early.