Individual and colony level choice during relocation to unequal target nests in an Indian queenless ant Diacamma indicum

Anoop, Karunakaran; Annagiri, Sumana

doi:10.1007/s00040-017-0596-1

Cited by 5 publications

(6 citation statements)

References 33 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Although some species are well adapted to frequent fission-fusion cycles or to permanently occupying multiple nests (Buczkowski and Bennett, 2009;Ellis et al, 2014;Holway and Case, 2000;Traniello and Levings, 1986), others pay a fitness cost if part of the nonreproductive workforce is cut off from their queen and so cannot contribute to the colony's growth and reproduction. Studies of colony migration by honeybees and ants have revealed elaborate decentralized mechanisms by which consensus emerges on the best of several sites, without the need for well-informed leaders to coordinate the move and ensure cohesion (Cronin, 2012;Karunakaran and Annagiri, 2017;Pratt, 2005b;Pratt et al, 2002;Robinson et al, 2014;Seeley, 2010;Visscher, 2007). These strategies rely on site quality-dependent recruitment amplified by non-linear quorum rules that reduce the likelihood of commitment to more than one site.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Symmetry breaking and pivotal individuals during the reunification of ant colonies

Doering

Pratt

2019

Journal of Experimental Biology

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Maintenance of a social group requires the ability to reach consensus when faced with divisive choices. Thus, when migrating colonies of the ant Temnothorax rugatulus split among multiple sites, they can later reunify on the basis of queen location or differences in site quality. In this study, we found that colonies can reunify even without obvious cues to break the symmetry between sites. To learn how they do so, we observed both symmetric reunifications (between identical nests) and asymmetric reunifications (between nests of unequal quality) by colonies of individually marked ants. Both reunification types were accomplished by a tiny minority that carried nestmates from the 'losing' to the 'winning' site. Reunification effort was highly skewed in asymmetric splits, where the majority of the work was done by the first ant to transport, which nearly always came from the winning site. This contrasted with symmetric splits, where the initiator did not play an outsize role and was just as likely to come from the losing site. Symmetric reunifications were also characterized by high transporter attrition, which may help to prevent deadlocks. Tandem runs were abundant in both types and were typically led by transporters as they returned to the losing site to fetch another nestmate. Few tandem followers joined the transport effort, suggesting that tandem runs do not serve to recruit transporters but may have another, as yet unidentified role. Our results underscore the potentially large contribution of highly active individuals to group behaviour, even in decentralized societies such as ant colonies.

show abstract

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Symmetry breaking and pivotal individuals during the reunification of ant colonies

Doering

Pratt

2019

Journal of Experimental Biology

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Thus, individuals carrying information regarding alternative nest sites are central to the process of relocation. Less than 10% of colony members have been observed to assess new nests before starting relocating their colony to the suitable alternative (Karunakaran & Annagiri, 2018).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…These leaders check the new nest at each transport event, and ensure that the nest continues to be habitable and this allows colonies to be flexible in their choice of a new nest with minimal cost (Anoop & Sumana, 2015). Diacamma indicum leaders are also capable of choosing between two nests of varying quality (Karunakaran & Annagiri, 2018). Thus, leaders play an essential role in this process, and we can expect that the information of the new nest that is possessed by only a few individuals could be a limiting factor that impacts both the dynamics and organization of nest relocation.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Diacamma indicum leaders are also capable of choosing between two nests of varying quality (Karunakaran & Annagiri, 2018). Thus, leaders play an essential role in this process, and we can expect that the information of the new nest that is possessed by only a few individuals could be a limiting factor that impacts both the dynamics and organization of nest relocation.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

The impact of prior and current information of a new nest on relocation dynamics in an Indian ant

et al. 2023

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Animals are known to acquire and store information of their environment in order to enhance their performance in different tasks like foraging, migration and breeding. Having information regarding nesting sites would be particularly useful when they have to relocate. In the current study, we asked if having information of a new nest prior to or at the onset of relocation has a positive impact on the ability of ant colonies to relocate. We performed five sets of experiments on a ponerine ant species Diacamma indicum that recruits nestmates solely by tandem running. By analyzing data of 4756 unique ants across 61 colonies, we found that, access to information of the new nest for 1 day prior to the relocation did not give any significant advantage as compared to no prior information of the new nest. However, access to information for 7 days prior to relocation resulted in 50% increase in the number of tandem leaders and reduction of the transport time by an average of 49%. Our data on providing information at the onset of relocation indicates that introducing explorers to the new nest did not aid the process of relocation but when information of a new nest was self‐acquired, there was a reduction in discovery time by 50% and also in the transport time per unit distance for relocation into a new nest. Having information regarding only the surroundings and not the nest at the onset of a relocation did not give any significant advantages. Further, the manner in which work was organized during the relocation process was not significantly influenced by prior information across any of the treatments. Our findings suggest that information of new nest is important and when such information is self‐acquired at the onset of relocation or is available for a long enough duration, it has a positive influence in the process of relocation in this ant species.

show abstract

“…Further, these nest box’s walls are coated with Vaseline (Hindustan Unilever Limited, India) in order to prevent ants from escaping the setup. Following that, we count every individual and the number of broods present in the colonies and enter the same into a lab register (Karunakaran & Annagiri, 2018; Sumana & Sona, 2013). Each ant within the colony is marked with enamel paint (Testors, Rockford, IL, USA) on different parts of their body for individual identification by the experimenters.…”

Section: Living In the Labmentioning

confidence: 99%

Marching with ants to a new nest

Annagiri

Halder

2023

Preprint

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

In this review, we journey with Diacamma indicum a Ponerine ant over the last decade as they relocate to new nests and discover the challenges they face along the way and how they solve them. Colony relocation is a goal oriented dynamic task that involves all the colony members and impacts the colonies' fitness. After explaining how I initiated this journey, we examine colony composition of this species by analysing data from 1200 colonies collected over the last 13 years. On average colonies are constituted with 89.35 adult females, 0.29 males and 56.6 brood items of different development stages and these were significantly impacted by seasonality with Pre monsoon having the highest numbers. After explaining how colonies are collected and maintained in the lab, we explore the architectural components of the subterrain nests built by this species in the natural habitat. Colonies live in relatively simple single chambered nest that does not change significantly across seasons and consists of an entrance tunnel and a secondary runoff tunnel. All members of the colony are recruited to the new nest through tandem running and this species shows the highest documented tandem running speeds at 4.35 body lengths per second and a path efficiency of 83.95% with only 2.4% of tandem runs being unsuccessful in the natural habitat. Even in lab conditions, when colonies are given defined paths of different lengths, colonies showed significant preference to travel through short paths , highlighting their ability to optimizes their path even in the absence of chemical trails. A combination of experiments in the natural habitat and controlled experiments in the lab which are anchored in the umwelt of the organism has enabled us to understand how D. indicum functions and reveals the selection forces that are operating on the organization and performances of relocation. Our journey has brought to light several answers but has opened several more avenues for exploration branching out in different directions. With time and dedicated minds, we hope to continue on this route to marvel at the achievements of these superorganisms.

show abstract

Individual and colony level choice during relocation to unequal target nests in an Indian queenless ant Diacamma indicum

Cited by 5 publications

References 33 publications

Symmetry breaking and pivotal individuals during the reunification of ant colonies

Symmetry breaking and pivotal individuals during the reunification of ant colonies

The impact of prior and current information of a new nest on relocation dynamics in an Indian ant

Marching with ants to a new nest

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About