AP PROVIDES ACCESS TO THIS PUBLICLY DISTRIBUTED HANDOUT PHOTO PROVIDED BY LSU AGCENTER FOR EDITORIAL PURPOSES ONLY.
In this photo provided by LSU AgCenter, Worker ants and larvae _ the white spheres _ nesting in a marsh grass called Spartina alterniflora found Feb. 3, 2012, in southeast Bay Batiste in Plaquemines. These ants have all but disappeared from some areas hit by the Gulf of Mexico oil spill in 2010, which did not reach the Bay Batiste marsh, says LSU Agricultural Center entomologist Linda Hooper-Bui. She is comparing insect and spider populations in areas hit by the spill to those in areas left untouched by it. (AP Photo/ LSU AgCenter, Xuan Chen via Hooper-Bui)