Durability of information concerning the presence of a gamergate in<i>Diacamma</i>sp. from Japan

Kikuchi, Toru; Suwabe, Mayuko; Tsuji, Kazuki

doi:10.1111/j.1365-3032.2009.00710.x

Cited by 9 publications

(8 citation statements)

References 28 publications

(36 reference statements)

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“…Finally, our model goes beyond simple snowball models of information transmission in that we included an additional negative feedback to capture attenuation of the spreading agent. For example, an information carrier (such as an ant) may forget what it has learnt [ 62 , 63 ], or the information-bearing chemical may decay by itself [ 19 , 64 ]. Information loss is modelled as another Poisson process with rate μ , but unlike transmission (which only occurs during contacts), an informed ant may perform the I→U transition at any time.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Short-term activity cycles impede information transmission in ant colonies

et al. 2017

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Rhythmical activity patterns are ubiquitous in nature. We study an oscillatory biological system: collective activity cycles in ant colonies. Ant colonies have become model systems for research on biological networks because the interactions between the component parts are visible to the naked eye, and because the time-ordered contact network formed by these interactions serves as the substrate for the distribution of information and other resources throughout the colony. To understand how the collective activity cycles influence the contact network transport properties, we used an automated tracking system to record the movement of all the individuals within nine different ant colonies. From these trajectories we extracted over two million ant-to-ant interactions. Time-series analysis of the temporal fluctuations of the overall colony interaction and movement rates revealed that both the period and amplitude of the activity cycles exhibit a diurnal cycle, in which daytime cycles are faster and of greater amplitude than night cycles. Using epidemiology-derived models of transmission over networks, we compared the transmission properties of the observed periodic contact networks with those of synthetic aperiodic networks. These simulations revealed that contrary to some predictions, regularly-oscillating contact networks should impede information transmission. Further, we provide a mechanistic explanation for this effect, and present evidence in support of it. Author summaryMany complex biological systems, from cardiac tissues to entire animal populations, exhibit rhythmical oscillations. Here we studied a textbook example of a complex living system-colonies of Leptothorax ants, which exhibit short (15 minute) collective activity cycles. In ant colonies, information, food, and chemical signals are transported throughout the group via worker-to-worker physical contacts, and it has therefore been suggested that the activity cycles might serve to increase the rapidity of information transmission. To test this, we used an automatic ant tracking system to identify physical contacts between workers, from which we reconstructed the dynamical network of physical contacts. We used models of information transmission derived from the study of contagious PLOS Computational Biology | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pcbi

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Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Short-term activity cycles impede information transmission in ant colonies

et al. 2017

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“…This has been interpreted as indicating that the chemical signals specific to the egg-layer (FGspecific cuticular hydrocarbon profiles; Cuvillier-Hot et al, 2002) have replaced the physical aggression by chemical communication after attaining the egg-laying phase (Cuvillier-Hot et al, 2001Liebig et al, 2000;Monnin, 2006). Instead of physical aggression, a mature gamergate actively antennates nestmates and the nestmate workers respond to the gamergate's contact by a submissive 'crouching' behavior (Tsuji et al, 1998(Tsuji et al, , 1999Kikuchi et al, 2008Kikuchi et al, , 2010. At day 7, FGs showed antennation behaviors and workers responded by crouching (Y.O., personal observations).…”

Section: Discussion Formation Of Dominant Statusmentioning

confidence: 99%

Social dominance and reproductive differentiation mediated by dopaminergic signaling in a queenless ant

Okada

Sasaki

Miyazaki

et al. 2015

Journal of Experimental Biology

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In social Hymenoptera with no morphological caste, a dominant female becomes an egg layer, whereas subordinates become sterile helpers. The physiological mechanism that links dominance rank and fecundity is an essential part of the emergence of sterile females, which reflects the primitive phase of eusociality. Recent studies suggest that brain biogenic amines are correlated with the ranks in dominance hierarchy. However, the actual causality between aminergic systems and phenotype (i.e. fecundity and aggressiveness) is largely unknown due to the pleiotropic functions of amines (e.g. age-dependent polyethism) and the scarcity of manipulation experiments. To clarify the causality among dominance ranks, amine levels and phenotypes, we examined the dynamics of the aminergic system during the ontogeny of dominance hierarchy in the queenless ant Diacamma sp., which undergoes rapid physiological differentiation based on dominance interactions. Brain dopamine levels differed between dominants and subordinates at day 7 after eclosion, although they did not differ at day 1, reflecting fecundity but not aggressiveness. Topical applications of dopamine to the subordinate workers induced oocyte growth but did not induce aggressiveness, suggesting the gonadotropic effect of dopamine. Additionally, dopamine receptor transcripts (dopr1 and dopr2) were elevated in the gaster fat body of dominant females, suggesting that the fat body is a potential target of neurohormonal dopamine. Based on this evidence, we suggest that brain dopamine levels are elevated in dominants as a result of hierarchy formation, and differences in dopamine levels cause the reproductive differentiation, probably via stimulation of the fat body.

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“…In such single-site nesting species with small colony sizes, inhibition depends on direct physical contact and not on volatile substances (Lüscher, 1952;Springhetti, 1972), and even a short absence of functional reproductives triggers neotenic development [e.g., 48 h in Zootermopsis angusticollis (Stuart, 1979) and in Kalotermes flavicollis (Kindl and Hrdý, 2005)]. In the Japanese ponerine ant Diacamma sp., which has small colonies of 20-300 workers, only workers without contact with functional reproductives, gamergates, develop ovaries (Tsuji et al, 1999); therefore, the gamergates need to contact all workers within 3-to 6-h intervals (Kikuchi et al, 2010). In larger colonies, however, direct inhibition by the reigning reproductives only is unlikely sufficient for colonywide suppression (Endler et al, 2004) and alternative methods of indirect communication must exist.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Workers do not mediate the inhibitory power of queens in a termite, Reticulitermes speratus (Isoptera, Rhinotermitidae)

Matsuura

Yamamoto

2011

Insect. Soc.

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In social insects, the caste systems are based on reproductive division of labor; queens specialize in reproduction and workers primarily maintain the colony. Recently, a volatile pheromone containing n-butyl-n-butyrate and 2-methyl-1-butanol was identified as a termite queen pheromone that inhibits the differentiation of female neotenic reproductives (secondary queens). Although this volatile inhibitory pheromone regulates caste differentiation directly, the method by which it reaches members without direct contact with the queen in large colonies is not well understood. Therefore, additional mechanisms of indirect communication must exist, such as worker-mediated queen signal transport. We found that workers exposed to female reproductives did not mediate queens' inhibitory signal in a termite Reticulitermes speratus. The experiment assessed worker transfer from direct to indirect contact groups and determined that the differentiation of new female reproductives in the indirect contact groups was not influenced by the direct contact groups, whereas direct contact with functional female reproductives and artificial queen pheromone did suppress neotenic differentiation. This suggests that worker transfer of the queen signal is unlikely and that for colony-wide inhibition direct contact by the majority of infertile members with reproductives or eggs, which emit the same volatiles as female reproductives, is necessary within a certain time interval.

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Durability of information concerning the presence of a gamergate inDiacammasp. from Japan

Cited by 9 publications

References 28 publications

Short-term activity cycles impede information transmission in ant colonies

Short-term activity cycles impede information transmission in ant colonies

Social dominance and reproductive differentiation mediated by dopaminergic signaling in a queenless ant

Workers do not mediate the inhibitory power of queens in a termite, Reticulitermes speratus (Isoptera, Rhinotermitidae)

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