Loss of attraction for social cues leads to fungal-infected Myrmica rubra ants withdrawing from the nest

Leclerc, Jean-Baptiste; Detrain, Claire

doi:10.1016/j.anbehav.2017.05.002

Cited by 23 publications

(36 citation statements)

References 41 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Such changes in behavior are generally considered to be triggered by the immune system through neural and circulatory pathways (48). In ants, a loss of attraction to social cues from the nest or nestmates (49), and hence social isolation from the colony, occurs after Metarhizium infection, close to the death of the individual (40,41). However, the social isolation of diseased, or generally moribund (50), ants does not involve any aggressive interactions in the colony (41,49).…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In ants, a loss of attraction to social cues from the nest or nestmates (49), and hence social isolation from the colony, occurs after Metarhizium infection, close to the death of the individual (40,41). However, the social isolation of diseased, or generally moribund (50), ants does not involve any aggressive interactions in the colony (41,49). The observed increase in aggression levels in low-level-infected ants may thus constitute a "partial sickness behavior," as they do not express signs of disease or all components of a typical sickness behavior (6,49) and still actively engage in sanitary care of their contaminated nestmates.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Ants avoid superinfections by performing risk-adjusted sanitary care

Konrad

Pull

Metzler

et al. 2018

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Being cared for when sick is a benefit of sociality that can reduce disease and improve survival of group members. However, individuals providing care risk contracting infectious diseases themselves. If they contract a low pathogen dose, they may develop low-level infections that do not cause disease but still affect host immunity by either decreasing or increasing the host's vulnerability to subsequent infections. Caring for contagious individuals can thus significantly alter the future disease susceptibility of caregivers. Using ants and their fungal pathogens as a model system, we tested if the altered disease susceptibility of experienced caregivers, in turn, affects their expression of sanitary care behavior. We found that low-level infections contracted during sanitary care had protective or neutral effects on secondary exposure to the same (homologous) pathogen but consistently caused high mortality on superinfection with a different (heterologous) pathogen. In response to this risk, the ants selectively adjusted the expression of their sanitary care. Specifically, the ants performed less grooming and more antimicrobial disinfection when caring for nestmates contaminated with heterologous pathogens compared with homologous ones. By modulating the components of sanitary care in this way the ants acquired less infectious particles of the heterologous pathogens, resulting in reduced superinfection. The performance of risk-adjusted sanitary care reveals the remarkable capacity of ants to react to changes in their disease susceptibility, according to their own infection history and to flexibly adjust collective care to individual risk.

show abstract

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Ants avoid superinfections by performing risk-adjusted sanitary care

Konrad

Pull

Metzler

et al. 2018

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Such changes in behaviour are generally considered to be triggered by the immune system through neural and circulatory pathways [54]. In ants, a loss of attraction to social cues from the nest or nestmates [55], and hence social isolation from the colony, occurs after Metarhizium infection, close to the death of the individual [46, 47]. Yet, the social isolation of diseased, or generally moribund [56], ants does not involve any aggressive interactions in the colony [47, 55].…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In ants, a loss of attraction to social cues from the nest or nestmates [55], and hence social isolation from the colony, occurs after Metarhizium infection, close to the death of the individual [46, 47]. Yet, the social isolation of diseased, or generally moribund [56], ants does not involve any aggressive interactions in the colony [47, 55]. The observed increase in aggression levels in micro-infected ants may thus constitute a “partial sickness behaviour”, as they neither express signs of disease nor all components of a typical sickness behaviour [6, 55], and still actively engage in sanitary care of their contaminated nestmates.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Yet, the social isolation of diseased, or generally moribund [56], ants does not involve any aggressive interactions in the colony [47, 55]. The observed increase in aggression levels in micro-infected ants may thus constitute a “partial sickness behaviour”, as they neither express signs of disease nor all components of a typical sickness behaviour [6, 55], and still actively engage in sanitary care of their contaminated nestmates. Whether these aggressive behaviours are adaptive remains to be determined, but dragging and biting of infected individuals has been observed in honeybees and other ants [47-49], and may potentially play a role in removing contagious individuals from the colony, to reduce disease spread [6].…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Ants express risk-adjusted sanitary care

Konrad

Seif

et al. 2017

Preprint

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

Increased Risk Proneness or Social Withdrawal? The Effects of Shortened Life Expectancy on the Expression of Rescue Behavior in Workers of the ant Formica cinerea (Hymenoptera: Formicidae)

2017

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

In social insects behavioral consequences of shortened life expectancy include, among others, increased risk proneness and social withdrawal. We investigated the impact of experimental shortening of life expectancy of foragers of the ant Formica cinerea achieved by their exposure to carbon dioxide on the expression of rescue behavior, risky pro-social behavior, tested by means of two bioassays during which a single worker (rescuer) was confronted with a nestmate (victim) attacked by a predator (antlion larva capture bioassay) or immobilized by an artificial snare (entrapment bioassay). Efficacy of carbon dioxide poisoning in shortening life expectancy was confirmed by the analysis of ant mortality. Rescue behavior observed during behavioral tests involved digging around the victim, transport of the sand covering the victim, pulling the limbs/antennae/mandibles of the victim, direct attack on the antlion (in antlion larva capture tests), and snare biting (in entrapment tests). The rate of occurrence of rescue behavior was lower in ants with shortened life expectancy, but that effect was significant only in the case of the entrapment bioassay. Similarly, only in the case of the entrapment bioassay ants with shortened life expectancy displayed rescue behavior after a longer latency and devoted less time to that behavior than ants from the control groups. Our results demonstrated that in ant workers shortened life expectancy may lead to reduced propensity for rescue behavior, most probably as an element of the social withdrawal syndrome that had already been described in several studies on behavior of moribund ants and honeybees.

show abstract

Loss of attraction for social cues leads to fungal-infected Myrmica rubra ants withdrawing from the nest

Cited by 23 publications

References 41 publications

Ants avoid superinfections by performing risk-adjusted sanitary care

Ants avoid superinfections by performing risk-adjusted sanitary care

Ants express risk-adjusted sanitary care

Increased Risk Proneness or Social Withdrawal? The Effects of Shortened Life Expectancy on the Expression of Rescue Behavior in Workers of the ant Formica cinerea (Hymenoptera: Formicidae)

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About