Evidence for contrasting size-frequency distributions of workers patrolling vegetation vs. the ground in the polymorphic African ant Anoplolepis custodiens

Doering, Grant Navid; Kamath, Ambika; Wright, Colin M.; Pruitt, Jonathan N.

doi:10.1007/s00040-018-0645-4

Cited by 4 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 34 publications

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“…O aumento do número de formigas no período seco se deve ao fato desse grupo ser tolerante a altas temperaturas e intensificar o seu forrageamento preferencialmente sobre a vegetação, para alimentar e/ou armazenar o alimento em os seus ninhos, além de movimentá-los para regiões mais profundas do solo, conferindo maior proteção contra predadores e altas temperaturas da superfície do solo (DOERING et al, 2018;SAAR et al, 2018). Caldato et al (2016) realizaram uma pesquisa em duas colônias de Atta capiguara localizadas em pasto adjacente de Botucatu, Brasil, com objetivo de investigar a mudança sazonal no padrão de atividade de forrageamento da espécie e fornecer uma estimativa da taxa herbívora de suas colônias.…”

Section: Resultsunclassified

Macrofauna edáfica e sua relação com sazonalidade em sistema de uso do solo, bioma cerrado

Lima

Dalzochio

Silva

et al. 2020

RICA

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A macrofauna edáfica pode ser encontrada em ambientes naturais e antrópicos, tornando-se um indicador da biodiversidade do solo e da intensidade das atividades biológicas. Objetivou-se identificar os principais grupos taxonômicos da macrofauna edáfica e sua relação com a sazonalidade, em ambientes sistema de uso do solo do bioma Cerrado. A pesquisa foi realizada nos ambientes: Cerradão (CER), Mata dos Cocais (MDC), Corte e Queima (CEQ), Eucalipto (EUC) e Pastagem (PAS) em Chapadinha, Brasil. Os invertebrados foram coletados no período chuvoso (PC) e no período seco (PS), e identificados a nível de ordem e/ou família. Encontrou-se 1129 indivíduos no período chuvoso, distribuídos em 14 grupos taxonômicos; e no período seco, 1020 indivíduos em 11 grupos taxonômicos. Formicidae foi o que apresentou maior número de indivíduos nos dois períodos. No período chuvoso ocorreu maior número de grupos taxonômicos e de indivíduos. A riqueza de organismos não variou significativamente entre os ambientes e entre os períodos de amostragem, e a abundância demonstrou diferenças entre o CER e EUC, tanto no período chuvoso quanto no seco. Observou-se que o número de táxons identificados nos cinco ambientes foi maior na MDC e EUC (período chuvoso), EUC e CEQ (período seco). Com relação a composição da macrofauna edáfica, a PERMANOVA indicou significância para os fatores, ambiente e sazonalidade, bem como a interação entre ambos, evidenciando variações temporais diferenciadas nos pontos amostrados. O escalonamento multidimensional não-métrico dos ambientes nos períodos sazonais para 'CEQ-Seco' e 'MDC-Seco', demostrou diferenças em relação aos demais ambientes. Conclui-se que nos ambientes naturais (CER e MDC) e antropizados (CEQ, EUC e PAS) do bioma Cerrado, a macrofauna edáfica sofre alteração na distribuição de táxons influenciada pelo efeito de sazonalidade que contribui para a cobertura vegetal do solo, aumentando a serapilheira e criando novos habitats para os organismos edáficos. O grupo Formicidae foi o mais expressivo nos dois períodos sazonais, e sua distribuição foi mais representativa no período seco, por ser mais tolerante as elevadas temperaturas.

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Section: Resultsunclassified

Macrofauna edáfica e sua relação com sazonalidade em sistema de uso do solo, bioma cerrado

Lima

Dalzochio

Silva

et al. 2020

RICA

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“…Allowing a pre-deployment period for the spiders to weave and establish a retreat structure serves to suppress post-deployment dispersion and has been successfully implemented in prior field experiments using experimental colonies of S. dumicola (Grinsted et al 2013, Keiser & Pruitt 2014, Keiser et al 2015, Wright et al 2017). Colonies were not deployed onto trees that were actively being patrolled by predatory ants (genera Anoplolepis and Crematogaster), as these ants have previously been demonstrated to destroy colonies before they can become established (Keiser et al 2015) and actively rove vegetation in search of prey (Doering et al 2018). Colonies were deployed in an order that did not conflate one climate type with time of release: (1) wet (Rundu, Nov 2016), (2) wet (Outjo, Nov 2016), (3) dry (Rehoboth, Nov 2016), (4) dry (Kalkrand, Nov 2016), (5) dry (Upington, Dec 2016), (6) dry (Boegoeberg, Dec 2016), (7) wet (Ladysmith, Dec 2016), (8) wet (Weenen, Jan 2017).…”

Section: Experimental Colony Deploymentmentioning

confidence: 99%

Predictors of colony extinction vary by habitat type in social spiders

McEwen

Lichtenstein

Fisher

et al. 2019

Behav Ecol Sociobiol

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Many animal societies are susceptible to mass mortality events and collapse. Elucidating how environmental pressures determine patterns of collapse is important for understanding how such societies function and evolve. Using the social spider Stegodyphus dumicola, we investigated the environmental drivers of colony extinction along two precipitation gradients across southern Africa, using the Namib and Kalahari deserts versus wetter savanna habitats to the north and east. We deployed experimental colonies (n = 242) along two ~ 800-km transects and returned to assess colony success in the field after 2 months. Specifically, we noted colony extinction events after the 2-month duration and collected environmental data on the correlates of those extinction events (e.g., evidence of ant attacks, no. of prey captured). We found that colony extinction events at desert sites were more frequently associated with attacks by predatory ants as compared with savanna sites, while colony extinctions in wetter savannas sites were more tightly associated with fungal outbreaks. Our findings support the hypothesis that environments vary in the selection pressures that they impose on social organisms, which may explain why different social phenotypes are often favored in each habitat.

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“…In some ant species, behavioral specialization is strongly determined by chronological age and physiological development (temporal polyethism): young workers typically perform safe tasks inside the nest, such as nursing the brood, and only later in life move on to more risky tasks outside the nest, such as foraging or territorial defense (Hölldobler and Wilson, 1990; Beshers et al, 2001; Giraldo and Traniello, 2014). In other species, task specialization among workers may be shaped by their size polymorphism, genetic background, experience, and social interactions, which is also partly influenced by age (Tripet and Nonacs, 2004; Schwander et al, 2005; Ravary et al, 2007; Helanterä et al, 2013; Giehr et al, 2017; Doering et al, 2018). Behavioral and cognitive mechanisms of the specialization of workers on different tasks remain the least studied in this area.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Red Wood Ants Display Natural Aversive Learning Differently Depending on Their Task Specialization

Iakovlev

Резникова

2019

Front. Psychol.

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The adaptive benefits of individual specialization and how learning abilities correlate with task performance are still far from being well-understood. Red wood ants are characterized by their huge colonies and deep professional specialization. We hypothesized that red wood ants Formica aquilonia form aversive learning after having negative encounters with hoverfly larvae differently, depending on their task specialization. We tested this hypothesis, first, by examining whether hunters and aphid milkers learn differently to avoid the nuisance of contacts with syrphid larvae, and, second, by analyzing the difference between learning in “field” and laboratory-reared (naïve) foragers. During the first interaction with the syrphid larva in their lives the naïve foragers showed a significantly higher level of aggressiveness than the members of a natural colony. Naïve foragers applied the “mortal grip,” “prolonged bites,” and “nibbling” toward the enemy with a significantly higher frequency, whereas members of both “field” groups behaved more carefully and tried to avoid encounters with the larva. The aphid milkers, who had a negative experience of interaction with the larva, being “glued” with its viscous secretion, behaved much less aggressively in the follow-up experiments after 10 min and even 3 days, thus exhibiting the shaping of both short- and long-term memories. However, both “field” hunters and naïve foragers demonstrated no signs of aversive learning. These data provide some new insights into the relationship between task specialization and learning performance in ants. Given our previous results, we speculate that scouts and aphid milkers are the most cognitively gifted specialists in red wood ants, whereas hunters and guards are rather brave than smart.

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Evidence for contrasting size-frequency distributions of workers patrolling vegetation vs. the ground in the polymorphic African ant Anoplolepis custodiens

Cited by 4 publications

References 34 publications

Macrofauna edáfica e sua relação com sazonalidade em sistema de uso do solo, bioma cerrado

Macrofauna edáfica e sua relação com sazonalidade em sistema de uso do solo, bioma cerrado

Predictors of colony extinction vary by habitat type in social spiders

Red Wood Ants Display Natural Aversive Learning Differently Depending on Their Task Specialization

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