A unique accumulation of workers ('colony') of the wood ant Formica polyctena Först., trapped within an old bunker for storing nuclear weapons, is described. The source of the 'colony' is a large colony nesting outdoors, on top of the bunker. Individuals that have fallen down through a ventilation pipe are not able to find their way back to the mother nest. In total darkness, they have constructed an earthen mound, which they have maintained all-year-round by moulding it and keeping the nest entrances open. Judging from the huge deposits of wood-ant corpses in the bunker, the 'colony' has survived for years. Through these years, the mortality has been more than compensated by new workers that fall down during the active season of the free-living colony outside, and at present the number of the bunker workers is counted in hundreds of thousands. The 'colony' has evidently produced no offspring, which is due to low (though relatively stable) temperatures and scanty food in the bunker.
Successful evacuation of a peculiar ‘colony’ of the wood ant Formica polyctena Först., for years trapped within an old bunker previously used for storing nuclear weapons (see Czechowski et al. 2016), is reported. Using an experimentally installed boardwalk, the imprisoned ants managed to get through the ventilation pipe to their maternal nest on the top of the bunker. In our previous report, we left open the question of how the ‘colony’ could survive seemingly without food. Here we show that the ‘colony’ in the bunker survived and grew thanks to an influx of workers from the source nest above the bunker and mass consumption of corpses of the imprisoned nestmates.
In the years 2004-2018, data on bats wintering in 9 sites of the Northern Group of the Soviet Army (PGWAR) stationed in the years 1945-1993 in Poland were obtained. A total of at least 11 bat species were found: greater mouse-eared bat Myotis myotis, Natterer’s bat M. nattereri, Daubenton’s bat M. daubentonii, Bechstein’s bat M. bechsteinii, whiskered/Brandt’s/Alcathoe bats M. mystacinus/brandtii/alcathoe, brown long-eared bat Plecotus auritus, grey long-eared bat P. austriacus, western barbastelle Barbastella barbastellus, serotine bat Eptesicus serotinus, common noctule Nyctalus noctula, common pipistrelle Pipistrellus pipistrellus and bats determined to the genus Pipistrellus. From 6 to 449 individuals hibernated in the facilities. Noteworthy is the presence of three species from Annex II of the Habitats Directive of EU. In most of the facilities, M. myotis and B. barbastellus were found, and M. bechsteinii in Wilkocin only. Wintering sites were used by numerous bats and also by endangered species therefore those buildings should be advisable to be covered with forms of nature protection.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.
customersupport@researchsolutions.com
10624 S. Eastern Ave., Ste. A-614
Henderson, NV 89052, USA
Copyright © 2024 scite LLC. All rights reserved.
Made with 💙 for researchers
Part of the Research Solutions Family.