Differential responses to chemical cues correlate with task performance in ant foragers

Detrain, Claire; Pereira, Hugo; Fourcassié, Vincent

doi:10.1007/s00265-019-2717-5

Cited by 19 publications

(15 citation statements)

References 63 publications

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“…This could be due to interindividual differences in the detection threshold of fungus-induced changes on prey. This suggests that foragers may differ from other inner workers in their response threshold to prey chemical cues, as already reported for colonial odour or the recruitment trail [87,88].…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 69%

Prophylactic Avoidance of Hazardous Prey by the Ant Host Myrmica rubra

Pereira

Detrain

2020

Insects

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Ants are the hosts of many microorganisms, including pathogens that are incidentally brought inside the nest by foragers. This is particularly true for scavenging species, which collect hazardous food such as dead insects. Foragers limit sanitary risks by not retrieving highly infectious prey releasing entomopathogenic fungal spores. This study investigates whether similar prophylactic strategies are also developed for food associated with weak or delayed risks of fungal contamination. We compared, in Myrmica rubra ant colonies, the retrieval dynamics of dead flies that were (1) conidia-free, (2) covered with a low amount of Metarhizium brunneum entomopathogenic conidia or (3) recently fungus-killed but not yet sporulating. Foragers mostly avoided fungus-killed prey and delayed the retrieval of conidia-covered flies. A second sanitary filter occurred inside the nest through a careful inspection of the retrieved prey. Ultimately, ants mostly consumed conidia-free and conidia-covered flies, but they relocated and discarded all fungus-killed prey outside of the nest. Our study confirms that, as a host of generalist entomopathogenic fungi, Myrmica rubra ants have developed a prophylactic avoidance and a differential management of prey depending on their infectious potential. We discuss the functional value as well as the possible cues underlying pathogen avoidance and prey discrimination in ants.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 69%

Prophylactic Avoidance of Hazardous Prey by the Ant Host Myrmica rubra

Pereira

Detrain

2020

Insects

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“…The colonies were queenless with around 1000-2000 workers and small amounts of brood. Queenless colonies forage and lay pheromone trails, and are frequently used in foraging experiments [51,56]. As foragers rarely interact with the queen [57], a lack of queen (but not brood, see [58]) should have little effect on the details of forager behaviour.…”

Section: Study Animalsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Negative feedback: ants choose unoccupied over occupied food sources and lay more pheromone to them

Wendt

Kleinhoelting

Czaczkes

2020

J. R. Soc. Interface.

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In order to make effective collective decisions, ants lay pheromone trails to lead nest-mates to acceptable food sources. The strength of a trail informs other ants about the quality of a food source, allowing colonies to exploit the most profitable resources. However, recruiting too many ants to a single food source can lead to over-exploitation, queuing, and thus decreased food intake for the colony. The nonlinear nature of pheromonal recruitment can also lead colonies to become trapped in suboptimal decisions, if the environment changes. Negative feedback systems can ameliorate these problems. We investigated a potential source of negative feedback: whether the presence of nest-mates makes food sources more or less attractive. Lasius niger workers were trained to food sources of identical quality, scented with different odours. Ants fed alone at one odour. At the other odour ants fed either with other feeding nest-mates, or with dummy ants (black surface lipid-coated glass beads). Ants tended to avoid food sources at which other nest-mates were present. They also deposited less pheromone to occupied food sources, suggesting an active avoidance behaviour, and potentiating negative feedback. This effect may prevent crowding at a single food source when other profitable food sources are available elsewhere, leading to a higher collective food intake. It could also potentially protect colonies from becoming trapped in local feeding optima. However, ants did not avoid the food associated with dummy ants, suggesting that surface lipids and static visual cues alone may not be sufficient for nest-mate recognition in this context.

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“…Ants are poïkilothermous organisms, whose foraging activity closely depends on the thermal conditions (Azcárate et al ., 2007; Hurlbert et al ., 2008; Jayatilaka et al ., 2011), as long as the temperature value stays beneath critical thermal zones (Cerdá et al ., 1998). As regards the search for food resources, the aphid tending ant species, Lasius niger explore the nest surroundings either on an individual basis or collectively by laying chemical marks (Devigne & Detrain, 2002; Detrain et al ., 2019). In the 20°‐26°C range of tested temperatures, we found no impact of temperature on the exploratory activity displayed by ant colonies at the beginning of the experiment.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Towards more intimacy: moderate elevation of temperature drives increases in foraging and mutualistic interactions between Lasius niger and Aphis fabae

Blanchard

Offelen

Verheggen

et al. 2020

Ecological Entomology

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1. Climate change will likely affect the association between species interacting at different trophic levels. However, studies focusing on the impact of an elevation of temperature on ant-hemipteran mutualism remain scarce. 2. In the present study we investigated, in laboratory conditions, the foraging behaviour of the ant Lasius niger and its mutualistic interaction with the aphid Aphis fabae under three conditions of temperatures (i.e. 20 ∘ C, 23 ∘ C, and 26 ∘ C), as predicted by climatic scenarios. 3. Aphids were more mobile but as likely to release honeydew droplets at higher temperatures. As regards the ants, a moderate 3 ∘ C increase of temperature positively impacted their mutualistic interaction with aphids. Such reinforcement was achieved through an increase in the walking speed of ant foragers, in the number of mobilised ants as well as in the total amount of honeydew harvested by the colony. 4. A further elevation of temperature to 26 ∘ C reduced the benefits gained by the aphid-tending ants, in terms of lower amount of collected honeydew. 5. Based on our results, we hypothesise that, in temperate regions, a moderate increase of ambient atmospheric temperature by 3 ∘ C will benefit to the L. niger-A. fabae mutualistic interaction. A more marked elevation of 6 ∘ C may represent a threshold thermal value above which a switch of partners or a disruption of the interaction may occur under the temperatures predicted for the end of the century. These results demonstrate the fragility of mutualistic interactions, and more particularly their sensitivity to temperature increases predicted by realistic forecast models.

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Differential responses to chemical cues correlate with task performance in ant foragers

Cited by 19 publications

References 63 publications

Prophylactic Avoidance of Hazardous Prey by the Ant Host Myrmica rubra

Prophylactic Avoidance of Hazardous Prey by the Ant Host Myrmica rubra

Negative feedback: ants choose unoccupied over occupied food sources and lay more pheromone to them

Towards more intimacy: moderate elevation of temperature drives increases in foraging and mutualistic interactions between Lasius niger and Aphis fabae

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