Soil surface complexity has a larger effect on food exploitation by ants than a change from grassland to shrubland

Radnan, Gabriella N.; Gibb, Heloise; Eldridge, David J.

doi:10.1111/een.12510

Cited by 23 publications

(13 citation statements)

References 67 publications

(151 reference statements)

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“…Following the workers that are fed by the workers that had discovered food would conduce to more accurate quantification of the effect of the transfer of non-spatial information among workers, on search intensity. Habitat complexity, in general, and maze complexity, in particular, can affect the time required to reach food [55,[100][101]. It will be intriguing to determine whether elevated search intensity, as presented here, will have the same contribution to maze solving when searching in a more complex maze.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 85%

Non-spatial information on the presence of food elevates search intensity in ant workers, leading to faster maze solving in a process parallel to spatial learning

et al. 2020

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Experience can lead to faster exploitation of food patches through spatial learning or other parallel processes. Past studies have indicated that hungry animals either search more intensively for food or learn better how to detect it. However, fewer studies have examined the contribution of non-spatial information on the presence of food nearby to maze solving, as a parallel process to spatial learning. We exposed Cataglyphis niger ant workers to a food reward and then let them search for food in a maze. The information that food existed nearby, even without spatial information, led to faster maze solving compared to a control group that was not exposed to the food prior to the experiment. Faster solving is probably achieved by a higher number of workers entering the maze, following the information that food is present nearby. In a second experiment, we allowed the ants to make successive searches in the maze, followed by removing them after they had returned to the nest and interacted with their naïve nestmates. This procedure led to a maze-solving time in-between that displayed when removing the workers immediately after they had reached the food and preventing their return to the colony, and that of no removal. The workers that interacted upon returning to the nest might have transferred to naïve workers information, unrelated to spatial learning, that food existed nearby, and driven them to commence searching. Spatial learning, or an increase in the correct movements leading to the food reward relative to those leading to dead-ends, was only evident when the same workers were allowed to search again in the same maze. However, both non-spatial information on the presence of food that elevated search intensity and spatial learning led to faster maze solving. OPEN ACCESSCitation: Bega D, Samocha Y, Yitzhak N, Saar M, Subach A, Scharf I (2020) Non-spatial information on the presence of food elevates search intensity in ant workers, leading to faster maze solving in a process parallel to spatial learning. PLoS ONE 15 (2): e0229709. https://doi.org/10.We collected 59 colonies of Cataglyphis niger from the Tel-Baruch sand dunes in Tel Aviv, Israel (32.132N, 34.788E), a public land. These sand dunes are an enclave of a disturbed natural Non-spatial information and maze solving in ants PLOS ONE | https://doi.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 85%

Non-spatial information on the presence of food elevates search intensity in ant workers, leading to faster maze solving in a process parallel to spatial learning

et al. 2020

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“…Consistent with our predictions, seed removal declined with greater cheatgrass cover and when seeds were located farther away from the nest (i.e., 3.0 m compared to 1.5 m). Invasive cheatgrass grows more densely and continuously than native bunchgrasses (e.g., Indian ricegrass), likely adding search and handling time for ants to acquire resources (Hickey et al., 2016; Ostoja et al., 2013; Radnan et al., 2018). Although cheatgrass may appear to protect native restoration species from removal, harvester ants avoid removing non‐native cheatgrass seeds which could prove costly for sagebrush restoration (Robertson & Robertson, 2020; Schmasow & Robertson, 2016).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Harvester ant seed removal in an invaded sagebrush ecosystem: Implications for restoration

Paolini

Modlin

Suazo

et al. 2020

Ecology and Evolution

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“…Another untested option is that the most explorative foragers fall into the pits, delaying food discovery. Even when workers do not fall into the pits, the pits still increase the habitat complexity, which is known to delay food discovery or impair foraging success [ 44 , 54 , 55 , 56 ]. Such a delay might be costly, if the food is collected by competitors or if the forager is interrupted before locating it and must stop foraging.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Desert Ants Learn to Avoid Pitfall Traps While Foraging

Bar

Marom

Zorin

et al. 2022

Biology

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Central-place foragers, such as social insects or nesting birds, repeatedly use the same routes from and to their nests when foraging for food. Such species forage more efficiently after accumulating experience. We examined, here, a relatively neglected aspect of such an improvement with experience—the avoidance of pitfall traps. Similar pits are built by antlions, which co-occur with the ants, but they also resemble other natural obstacles. We used the desert ant Cataglyphis niger, common in sandy habitats, and allowed it to forage for three successive runs for a food reward. Ant workers discovered food more slowly and in smaller numbers when pits were in their path. Pit presence also led to longer tracks by ants and slower movement. However, with experience, the ants fell into such pits less often and reached the food more quickly. To understand how past conditions affect current behavior, we investigated whether removing or adding pits led to a different result to that with a constant number of pits. Workers adjusted their behavior immediately when conditions changed. The only carryover effect was the longer tracks crossed by workers after pit removal, possibly resulting from the mismatch between the past and current conditions. Finally, the workers were more likely to fall into pits that were closer to the nest than those that were further away. This is a good example of the advantage that ambush predators can derive from ambushing their prey in specific locations.

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Soil surface complexity has a larger effect on food exploitation by ants than a change from grassland to shrubland

Cited by 23 publications

References 67 publications

Non-spatial information on the presence of food elevates search intensity in ant workers, leading to faster maze solving in a process parallel to spatial learning

Non-spatial information on the presence of food elevates search intensity in ant workers, leading to faster maze solving in a process parallel to spatial learning

Harvester ant seed removal in an invaded sagebrush ecosystem: Implications for restoration

Desert Ants Learn to Avoid Pitfall Traps While Foraging

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