Influence of seed size and seed nature on recruitment in the polymorphic harvester ant Messor barbarus

Heredia, Ana; Detrain, Claire

doi:10.1016/j.beproc.2005.08.001

Cited by 34 publications

(32 citation statements)

References 40 publications

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“…With their overdeveloped mandibular muscles, major workers are also particularly adapted to cut spikelets or plant stems, two energetically demanding activities (Roces and Lighton, 1995). All this may explain their weak participation in foraging columns (Heredia and Detrain, 2005).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Ergonomics of load transport in the seed harvesting ant Messor barbarus Linnæus, 1767: morphology influences transportation method and efficiency

Bernadou

Felden

Moreau

et al. 2016

Journal of Experimental Biology

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We studied in the field the load transport behavior of workers of the polymorphic Mediterranean seed harvester ant Messor barbarus. Individual ants used two different methods to transport food items: carrying and dragging. The probability of dragging instead of carrying varied significantly with both the mass of the item transported and its linear dimension. Moreover, the values of item mass and length at which dragging began to occur increased with increasing size of the workers. However, larger ants began dragging at decreasing values of the relative mass represented by the items transported, which reflects different biomechanical constraints resulting from allometric relationships between the different parts of their body. Transport rate was significantly higher in large ants but varied in the same way for workers of different sizes with the relative mass of the item transported. Nevertheless, although large ants were individually more efficient than small ants in transporting food items, the relative transport rate, defined as the ratio of transport rate to the mass of the ant, was higher for small ants than for large ants. Colonies should thus have a greater benefit in investing in small ants than in large ants for the transport of food items. This may explain why the proportion of large ants is so small on the foraging columns of M. barbarus and why large ants are most often employed in colonies for tasks other than transporting food items.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Ergonomics of load transport in the seed harvesting ant Messor barbarus Linnæus, 1767: morphology influences transportation method and efficiency

Bernadou

Felden

Moreau

et al. 2016

Journal of Experimental Biology

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“…Since they could detect food lures faster in smaller foraging areas, they could transport, distribute and store food faster. That strategy was also explained by Heredia and Detrain (2005). The recruitment intensity of ants could also be adjusted according to the nest-source distance and can result in higher number of foragers mobilized to nearer food sources (Taylor, 1977;Heredia and Detrain, 2005).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…That strategy was also explained by Heredia and Detrain (2005). The recruitment intensity of ants could also be adjusted according to the nest-source distance and can result in higher number of foragers mobilized to nearer food sources (Taylor, 1977;Heredia and Detrain, 2005). So that ants collected enough food quicker when foraging areas were smaller than from larger foraging areas.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Another possible reason might be, more ants shared foods and getting enough foods with time, so higher numbers of foragers mobilized for the first few hours of the food lures placement and decreased with time. That was a normal fire ants' foraging behavior because, the recruitment intensity of ants could be adjusted according to the situation (Taylor, 1977;Heredia and Detrain, 2005).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Simplified approaches to determine the attractant preference of Solenopsis invicta (Hymenoptera: Formicidae)

Kafle¹,

Wu²,

Meer³

et al. 2008

Appl. Entomol. Zool.

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The red imported fire ant, Solenopsis invicta, is an invasive species that has been introduced into the United States and more recently into several countries in the Asian-Pacific region. The foraging dynamics of this pest ant is important in understanding its interactions with native ant species and in devising the most effective toxic bait control methods. In this study the effect of worker density, size of the foraging area, the number of food lures, duration of experiments, and the effect of the queen on foraging activity were investigated under laboratory conditions. The results showed that of the four ant densities investigated (very small, small, medium and high) the medium ant density most consistently had more workers at the food lures than the other ant density situations. The percentage of worker ants at the food lures was negatively correlated with an increase in foraging territory size for all four worker ant densities. Significantly fewer foragers were observed in the foraging areas when a queen was present, then when the queen was absent. In addition, when number of food lures was increased from 1 to 12, the mean number of workers found at the lures was significantly higher when four food lures were present. Furthermore, the number of worker ants observed on the food lures increased for the first 2.5 h and then decreased with time. The study suggests that observations of foraging activity could be restricted to 2.5 h. These data lay the ground work for further studies in optimizing the effectiveness of fire ant bait toxicants.

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“…As experimentally demonstrated by different authors, selection of seeds is generally influenced by their environmental availability and other seed attributes including size and shape, nutrient content and concentration of secondary compounds (Carroll & Janzen 1973;Kelrick et al 1986;Crist & Macmahon 1992;Willott et al 2000;Azcárate et al 2005;Heredia & Detrain 2005;.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Seed selection and coexistence in two sympatricMessorharvester ant species (Hymenoptera: Formicidae)

Solida¹,

Luiselli²,

D’Angeli³

et al. 2014

Italian Journal of Zoology

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Selective seed consumption by harvester ants may be affected by several seed attributes, amongst which seed size and environmental availability play a prominent role. In the present study, we considered the effects of seed size and seed availability on the coexistence and diet preference of two Messor species (Messor wasmanni and Messor minor). M. wasmanni colonies collected the most abundant resource in the environment, grass seeds (Poaceae), according to their availability whilst M. minor showed a nonselective process. In addition, the two ant species showed a different seed size preference, with M. wasmanni adopting a selective strategy and M. minor a generalist strategy. However, competition for foraging resources between the two ant species (assessed by null model algorithms) seems not to affect their foraging behaviour. The lack of a competitive structure within the ant assemblage suggests, in fact, that resources are not a limiting factor for species coexistence.

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Influence of seed size and seed nature on recruitment in the polymorphic harvester ant Messor barbarus

Cited by 34 publications

References 40 publications

Ergonomics of load transport in the seed harvesting ant Messor barbarus Linnæus, 1767: morphology influences transportation method and efficiency

Ergonomics of load transport in the seed harvesting ant Messor barbarus Linnæus, 1767: morphology influences transportation method and efficiency

Simplified approaches to determine the attractant preference of Solenopsis invicta (Hymenoptera: Formicidae)

Seed selection and coexistence in two sympatricMessorharvester ant species (Hymenoptera: Formicidae)

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