No abstract

insects, an interesting question about animals that cooperate during foraging is the relation between the physiological status (e.g. food deprivation level), modulation of inter-individual communication and the resulting collective behaviour. Currently, this relation between starvation level and the probability that an individual will initiate, maintain or stop collective foraging is still poorly studied.Many studies have shown that social insects select efficient foraging strategies according to food quality, food quantity, distance to food source, risk of predation, or competition. Among all these variables, starvation level is one of most important parameters affecting collective foraging behaviour in ants (Cassill and Tschinkel, 1995;Cosens and Toussaint, 1986;Hölldobler, 1971;Roces and Hölldobler, 1996;Traniello, 1977), honeybees (Seeley, 1995;Schulz et al., 1998;Schulz et al., 2002; and bumble bees (Cartar and Dill, 1990). Aphidtending ant species, such as Lasius niger, are good biological models to study the behavioural flexibility of animals faced with fluctuations of nutritional supplies. Honeydew is the main source of protein and carbohydrates for aphid-tending ants (Auclair, 1963;Hölldobler and Wilson, 1990) and its production undergoes important temporal variations in the course of year (El-Ziady and Kennedy, 1956;Sakata, 1994;

Tetranychus urticae is a phytophagous mite that forms colonies of several thousand individuals. These mites construct a common web to protect the colony. When plants become overcrowded and food resources become scarce, individuals gather at the plant apex to form a ball composed of mites and their silk threads. This ball is a structure facilitating group dispersal by wind or animal transport. Until now, no quantitative study had been done on this collective form of migration. This is the first attempt to understand the mechanisms that underlie the emergence and growth of the ball. We studied this collective behaviour under laboratory conditions on standardized infested plants. Our results show that the collective displacement and the formation of balls result from a recruitment process: by depositing silk threads on their way up to the plant apex, mites favour and amplify the recruitment toward the balls. A critical threshold (quorum response) in the cumulative flow of mites must be reached to observe the emergence of a ball. At the beginning of the balls formation, mites form an aggregate. After 24 hours, the aggregated mites are trapped inside the silk balls by the complex network of silk threads and finally die, except for recently arrived individuals. The balls are mainly composed of immature stages. Our study reconstructs the key events that lead to the formation of silk balls. They suggest that the interplay between mites' density, plant morphology and plant density lead to different modes of dispersions (individual or collective) and under what conditions populations might adopt a collective strategy rather than one that is individually oriented. Moreover, our results lead to discuss two aspects of the cooperation and altruism: the importance of Allee effects during colonization of new plants and the importance of the size of a founding group.

We investigate the behavioural rule used by ant societies to adjust their foraging response to the honeydew productivity of aphids. When a scout finds a single food source, the decision to lay a recruitment trail is an all-or-none response based on the opportunity for this scout to ingest a desired volume acting as a threshold. Here, we demonstrate, through experimental and theoretical approaches, the generic value of this recruitment rule that remains valid when ants have to forage on multiple small sugar feeders to reach their desired volume. Moreover, our experiments show that when ants decide to recruit nest-mates they lay trail marks of equal intensity, whatever the number of food sources visited. A model based on the 'desired volume' rule of recruitment as well as on experimentally validated parameter values was built to investigate how ant societies adjust their foraging response to the honeydew productivity profile of aphids. Simulations predict that, with such recruiting rules, the percentage of recruiting ants is directly related to the total production of honeydew. Moreover, an optimal number of foragers exists that maximizes the strength of recruitment, this number being linearly related to the total production of honeydew by the aphid colony. The 'desired volume' recruitment rule that should be generic for all ant species is enough to explain how ants optimize trail recruitment and select aphid colonies or other liquid food resources according to their productivity profile.

The two‐spotted spider mite, Tetranychus urticae Koch, is a worldwide pest that feeds on a large variety of plant families. Because its resistance to acaricides is spreading rapidly, the development of new biological control tactics for population management is crucial. Plant extracts, such as garlic extract (Allium sativum Linn.), may represent viable alternatives, because they are currently considered to be minimum‐risk pesticides. Although garlic is known for its acaricidal properties, the extract concentration that provides the most efficient control has not yet been precisely determined. In this study, we conducted a series of laboratory experiments to determine the susceptibility of adult females to different concentrations of garlic extract. Fresh garlic cloves were steam‐distilled and sprayed using a Potter spray tower. Mortality and fecundity were measured upon treatment with garlic extract concentrations ranging from 0.46 to 14.4 mg/l. Female mortality increased with concentration, with LD50 and LD90 values of 7.49 and 13.5 mg/l, respectively. Reduced fecundity was previously observed at concentrations of 0.36 and 0.74 mg/l. The chemical composition of the Allium sativum distillate was characterized by reversed‐phase high‐performance liquid chromatography coupled with photodiode array detection, GC/MS and Fast GC‐FID against an authentic standard (Standard, Bioextract).Vinyl dithiin, diallyl disulphide, diallyl trisulphide and methyl allyl trisulphide were identified based on their mass spectra. Sesquiterpenoids were identified by their retention index.

No abstract

Experimental animal and human studies have demonstrated that probiotic strains have beneficial effects on allergy. Here we report that the probiotic Escherichia coli Nissle 1917 strain (EcN) is able to activate DC, as shown by important cytokine synthesis together with up-regulation of membrane expression of CD40, CD80 and CD86. This EcN-induced DC activation was strictly dependent on the TLR4 signaling pathway and was also associated with stimulation of NF-jB and MAPK. We next investigated the prophylactic potential of i.n. co-administration of EcN with a recombinant form of Der p 1 (ProDer p 1) in a murine model of mite allergy. I.n. vaccinations with EcN plus ProDer p 1 prevented the subsequent allergic response following Der p 1 sensitization and airway challenge with aerosolized mite extracts through the induction of an allergen-specific IgG2a response, the prevention of specific IgE production and a strong reduction of IL-5 secretion by allergen-restimulated splenocytes. EcN alone or in combination with ProDer p 1 inhibited the development of airway eosinophilia and neutrophilia. This in vivo protective effect of EcN was, in part, mediated by TLR4 signaling. Our results suggest that EcN represents an efficient adjuvant to prevent allergic responses.

The essential oil of Deverra scoparia Coss. & Durieu was investigated for its acaricidal activity against the worldwide pest twospotted spider mite, Tetranychus urticae Koch (Acari: Tetranychidae). The essential oil was analyzed by fast gas chromatography (GC) and GC-mass spectrometry. The activities of its individual and blended constituents were determined. Our study showed that female mortality increased with increasing D. scoparia oil concentrations, with LD50 and LD90 values at 1.79 and 3.2 mg liter(-1), respectively. A reduction in fecundity had already been observed for concentrations of 0.064, 0.08, and 0.26 mg liter(-1) D. scoparia essential oil. Ten major components, comprising 98.52% of the total weight, were identified; a-pinene was the most abundant constituent (31.95%) followed by sabinene (17.24%) and delta3-carene (16.85%). The 10 major constituents of D. scoparia oil were individually tested against T. urticae females. The most potent toxicity was found with alpha-pinene, delta3-carene, and terpinen-4-ol. The presence of all constituents together in the artificial mixture caused a significant decrease in the number of eggs laid by females, at 0.26 mg liter(-1) (11 eggs), compared with the control (50 eggs). The toxicity of blends of selected constituents indicated that the presence of all constituents was necessary to reproduce the toxicity level of the natural oil.