Demography, demand, death, and the seasonal allocation of labor in the Florida harvester ant (Pogonomyrmex badius)

Kwapich, Christina L.; Tschinkel, Wälter R.

doi:10.1007/s00265-013-1611-9

Cited by 63 publications

(66 citation statements)

References 70 publications

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“…Social insect workers have been hypothesized to experience programmed death at an age marginally greater than their life expectancy in nature [66], implying that task performance abilities either gradually diminish or abruptly decline with age. Although worker longevity in the field is not known in P. dentata, it is reasonably anticipated to be shorter than the 140-day lifespan we recorded in the laboratory, given increased worker mortality associated with the transition to extranidal tasks performed in more unpredictable environments [20,67,68]. Although we cannot exclude the possibility that P. dentata minor workers decline rapidly just before death, this appears to be unlikely because precipitous senescence [69] is rare and associated with unusually high investment in reproduction [70], which is absent in sterile workers.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Lifespan behavioural and neural resilience in a social insect

et al. 2016

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Analyses of senescence in social species are important to understanding how group living influences the evolution of ageing in society members. Social insects exhibit remarkable lifespan polyphenisms and division of labour, presenting excellent opportunities to test hypotheses concerning ageing and behaviour. Senescence patterns in other taxa suggest that behavioural performance in ageing workers would decrease in association with declining brain functions. Using the ant Pheidole dentata as a model, we found that 120-day-old minor workers, having completed 86% of their laboratory lifespan, showed no decrease in sensorimotor functions underscoring complex tasks such as alloparenting and foraging. Collaterally, we found no age-associated increases in apoptosis in functionally specialized brain compartments or decreases in synaptic densities in the mushroom bodies, regions associated with integrative processing. Furthermore, brain titres of serotonin and dopamine-neuromodulators that could negatively impact behaviour through age-related declines-increased in old workers. Unimpaired task performance appears to be based on the maintenance of brain functions supporting olfaction and motor coordination independent of age. Our study is the first to comprehensively assess lifespan task performance and its neurobiological correlates and identify constancy in behavioural performance and the absence of significant age-related neural declines.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Lifespan behavioural and neural resilience in a social insect

et al. 2016

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“…In fact, several studies that explicitly set out to test the reserve worker hypothesis fail to support it (Fewell and Winston 1992;Johnson 2002;Jandt et al 2012). Moreover, there is evidence that when workload increases, workers other than inactive workers increase their activity (Mirenda and Vinson 1981;Johnson 2002), or that workers are incapable of reallocating workers to necessary tasks, even at the expense of losing half of their brood (Kwapich and Tschinkel 2013).…”

Section: Communicated By L Kellermentioning

confidence: 96%

Workers ‘specialized’ on inactivity: Behavioral consistency of inactive workers and their role in task allocation

Charbonneau

Dornhaus

2015

Behav Ecol Sociobiol

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Social insect colonies are often considered to be highly efficient collective systems, with division of labor at the root of their ecological success. However, in many species, a large proportion of a colony's workers appear to spend their time completely inactive. The role of this inactivity for colony function remains unclear. Here, we investigate how inactivity is distributed among workers and over time in the ant Temnothorax rugatulus. We show that the level of inactivity is consistent for individual workers, but differs significantly among workers, that is, some workers effectively specialize on 'inactivity'. We also show that workers have circadian rhythms, although intra-nest tasks tend to be performed uniformly across the whole day. Differences in circadian rhythms, or workers taking turns resting (i.e., working in shifts), cannot explain the observation that some workers are consistently inactive. Using extensive individual-level data to describe the overall structure of division of labor, we show that 'inactive workers' form a group distinct from other task groups. Hierarchical clustering suggests that inactivity is the primary variable in differentiating both workers and tasks. Our results underline the importance of inactivity as a behavioral state and the need for further studies on its evolution.

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“…Another example of function is suggested by the upward movement of aging workers in harvester ant nests (and many other ant species) (MacKay 1983;Tschinkel 1999;Hart and Tschinkel 2012;Kwapich and Tschinkel 2013). Brood are found primarily in the bottom third or so of the nest, seeds in a zone above that but still well below the surface, and foragers only in the top 10-15 cm.…”

Section: Function and Organization Of Workmentioning

confidence: 98%

The architecture of subterranean ant nests: beauty and mystery underfoot

Tschinkel

2015

J Bioecon

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Over the 100 million years of their evolution, ants have constructed or occupied nests in a wide range of materials and situations. A large number of ant species excavate nests in the soil, and these subterranean nests have evolved into a wide range of sizes and architectures. On the basis of casts made of such nests, this variation and the patterns that govern it are described. The possible functions of architectural features are discussed, as are the behavioral "rules" through which the nests are created by worker ants.

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Demography, demand, death, and the seasonal allocation of labor in the Florida harvester ant (Pogonomyrmex badius)

Cited by 63 publications

References 70 publications

Lifespan behavioural and neural resilience in a social insect

Lifespan behavioural and neural resilience in a social insect

Workers ‘specialized’ on inactivity: Behavioral consistency of inactive workers and their role in task allocation

The architecture of subterranean ant nests: beauty and mystery underfoot

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