Giving-up time variation in response to differences in nectar volume and concentration in the giant tropical ant,Paraponera clavata (Hymenoptera: Formicidae)

Breed, Michael D.; Bowden, Rachel M.; Garry, Melissa F.; Weicker, Aric L.

doi:10.1007/bf02213547

Cited by 19 publications

(13 citation statements)

References 15 publications

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“…Studies showed that the patterns of foraging ants that feed on nectar or on honeydew are related to the nutritional demands of these ants [59–60], to the nutritional features of the food resources [61–63], to the spatial distribution of resources [61] and to the nest-to-food distance [62–63]. Furthermore, the ecological success of these ants depends on their ability to adjust their foraging strategies to their resources and environmental constraints [64].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Variation in Extrafloral Nectary Productivity Influences the Ant Foraging

2017

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Extrafloral nectar is the main food source offered by plants to predatory ants in most land environments. Although many studies have demonstrated the importance of extrafloral nectaries (EFNs) to plant defense against herbivores, the influence of EFNs secretory activity pattern on predatory ants remains yet not fully understood. Here, we verified the relation between the extrafloral nectar production of a plant community in Cerrado in different times of the day, and its attractiveness to ants. The extrafloral nectaries (EFNs) of seven plant species showed higher productivity overnight. Ant abundance was higher in times of large extrafloral nectar production, however, there was no positive relation between ant richness on plants and EFNs productivity. There was temporal resource partitioning among ant species, and it indicates strong resource competition. The nectar productivity varied among plant species and time of the day, and it influenced the visitation patterns of ants. Therefore, EFNs are a key ant-plant interaction driver in the studied system.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Variation in Extrafloral Nectary Productivity Influences the Ant Foraging

2017

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“…in arboreal ant species (Johnson et al 2003)). Far from the nest, ants are expected to behave in a way that optimises their individual energetic return by increasing their patch residence time (Rissing and Pollock, 1984;Breed et al, 1996), their feeding time (Bonser et al, 1998but see Hangartner, 1969 and by decreasing investment in nestmates' recruitment (Hangartner, 1969;Hölldobler, 1976;Taylor, 1977;Fewell et al, 1992). By contrast, close to the nest, cooperation and collective food exploitation are often triggered by strong recruitment trail (Hangartner, 1969;Taylor, 1977;Fewell et al, 1992) and facilitated by short patch residence times (Breed et al, 1996), among which variations may occur due to disturbances caused by the ants themselves (Halley and Burd, 2004).…”

Section: Changing Cooperation Level With Foraging Distancementioning

confidence: 99%

How does food distance influence foraging in the ant Lasius niger: the importance of home-range marking

Devigne

Detrain

2006

Insect. Soc.

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We study the infl uence of food distance on the individual foraging behaviour of Lasius niger scouts and we investigate which cue they use to assess their distance from the nest and accordingly tune their recruiting behaviour. Globally, the number of U-turns made by scouts increases with distance resulting in longer travel times and duration of the foraging cycle. However, over familiar areas, homerange marking reduces the frequency and thereby the impact of U-turns on foraging times leading to a quicker exploitation of food sources than over unmarked set-ups. Regarding information transfer, the intensity of the recruitment trail reaching the nest decreases with increasing food distance for all set-ups and is even more reduced in the absence of homerange marking. Hence, the probability of a scout continuing to lay a trail changes along the homeward journey but in a different way according to home-range marking. Over unexplored setups, at a given distance from the food source, the percentage of returning trail-laying ants remains unchanged for all tested nest-feeder distances. Hence, the tuning of the trail recruiting signal by scouts was not infl uenced by an odometric estimate of the distance already travelled by the ants during their outward journey to the food. By contrast, over previously explored set-ups, a distance-related factorthat is the intensity of home-range marking -strongly infl uences their recruiting behaviour. In fact, over a home-range marked bridge, the probability of returning ants maintaining their trail-laying behaviour increases with decreasing food distance while the gradient of home-range marks even induces ants which have stopped laying a trail to resume this behaviour in the nest vicinity. We suggest that home-range marking laid passively by walking ants is a relevant cue for scouts to indirectly assess distance from the nest but also local activity level or foraging risks in order to adaptively tune trail recruitment and colony foraging dynamics.

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“…In this kind of behaviour, the organization of the group activities is based on the decisions made by individuals in response to stimuli from the environment and the local information obtained from nestmates (Wilson, 1971;Hölldobler and Wilson, 1990;Seeley, 1995;Breed et al, 1996;Mailleux et al, 2000;Gordon, 2007). A variety of communication channels are involved in recruiting other individuals: tactile, chemical, vibrational, conspicuous displays, such as a bee dance, or mouth-to-mouth food exchange (trophallaxis), among others.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Olfactory memory established during trophallaxis affects food search behaviour in ants

Provecho

Josens

2009

Journal of Experimental Biology

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Recently, it has been demonstrated that nectivorous ants can establish an associative memory between sucrose (unconditioned stimulus, US) and odour (conditioned stimulus, CS) at the source during successive foraging cycles, by means of an individual learning paradigm (Dupuy et al., 2006) which leads to long-lasting memory (Josens et al., 2009). In a similar way, during foraging, ants are able to establish memories with other different sensory modalities, such as spatiotemporal (Schatz et al., 1994), visual cues for routing or navigation (Collet et al., 1992;Durier et al., 2003;Cammaerts and Lambert, 2008 SUMMARY Camponotus mus ants can associate sucrose and odour at the source during successive foraging cycles and use this memory to locate the nectar in the absence of other cues. These ants perform conspicuous trophallactic behaviour during recruitment while foraging for nectar. In this work, we studied whether Camponotus mus ants are able to establish this odour-sucrose association in the social context of trophallaxis and we evaluated this memory in another context previously experienced by the ant, as a nectar source. After a single trophallaxis of a scented solution, the receiver ant was tested in a Y-maze without any reward, where two scents were presented: in one arm, the solution scent and in the other, a new scent. Ants consistently chose the arm with the solution scent and stayed longer therein. Trophallaxis duration had no effect on the arm choice or with the time spent in each arm. Workers are able to associate an odour (conditioned stimulus) with the sucrose (unconditioned stimulus) they receive through a social interaction and use this memory as choice criteria during food searching.

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Giving-up time variation in response to differences in nectar volume and concentration in the giant tropical ant,Paraponera clavata (Hymenoptera: Formicidae)

Cited by 19 publications

References 15 publications

Variation in Extrafloral Nectary Productivity Influences the Ant Foraging

Variation in Extrafloral Nectary Productivity Influences the Ant Foraging

How does food distance influence foraging in the ant Lasius niger: the importance of home-range marking

Olfactory memory established during trophallaxis affects food search behaviour in ants

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