Task allocation in the tunneling behavior of workers of the Formosan subterranean termite, Coptotermes formosanus Shiraki

Cornelius, Mary L.; Gallatin, Erin M.

doi:10.1016/j.aspen.2015.07.017

Cited by 7 publications

(5 citation statements)

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“…Our results suggest that subterranean termites can be temporarily specialized in different aspects of foraging activity, such as food finding, acquisition, and transportation, to increase overall foraging efficiency similar to tunneling behaviors [ 20 , 22 , 23 ]. Food finding efficiency is determined by the geometry of underground tunnels, which are optimized to find resources with clumped distributions [ 30 ].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In subterranean termites, foraging is always initiated with the excavation of new underground tunnels toward putative foraging sites [ 19 ]. Tunneling behavior in subterranean termites is composed of two components, excavation and deposition [ 24 , 26 , 31 ], and it was shown that subterranean termites do not equally participate in excavations, indicating task allocation among workers during tunnel excavation [ 20 , 22 , 23 , 31 ]. However, it remains unknown if task allocation persists after a food item is discovered through excavation, as additional individuals are recruited to the discovered wood resource [ 32 ].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Differential time allocation of foraging workers in the subterranean termite

Lee

Chouvenc

2021

Front Zool

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Background Foraging in group living animals such as social insects, is collectively performed by individuals. However, our understanding on foraging behavior of subterranean termites is extremely limited, as the process of foraging in the field is mostly concealed. Because of this limitation, foraging behaviors of subterranean termites were indirectly investigated in the laboratory through tunnel geometry analysis and observations on tunneling behaviors. In this study, we tracked subsets of foraging workers from juvenile colonies of Coptotermes formosanus (2-yr-old) to describe general foraging behavioral sequences and to find how foraging workers allocate time between the foraging site (food acquisition or processing) and non-foraging site (food transportation). Results Once workers entered into the foraging site, they spent, on average, a significantly longer time at the foraging site than the non-foraging site. Our clustering analysis revealed two different types of foraging workers in the subterranean termite based on the duration of time they spent at the foraging site and their foraging frequency. After entering the foraging site, some workers (cluster 1) immediately initiated masticating wood fragments, which they transferred as food boluses to recipient workers at the foraging site. Conversely, the recipient workers (cluster 2) moved around after entering the foraging site and received food from donating workers. Conclusions This study provides evidence of task specialization within foraging cohorts in subterranean termites.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Differential time allocation of foraging workers in the subterranean termite

Lee

Chouvenc

2021

Front Zool

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“…Moreover, termite colonies typically maintain a soldier population of approximately 10%, which influences worker behavior [ 16 ]. It has been observed that a significant portion, roughly 70–80%, of workers remain within the nest without actively engaging in food transport [ 15 , 17 ]. In a natural termite system, the extent of individuals involved in the food search and transport process depends on the food quantity available in the soil [ 18 ].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Exploring the role of loop tunnels in enhancing termite food transport efficiency: A simulation approach

Lee,

Park

2024

Heliyon

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“…Thus, a better understating of this behavior could help to define the ecological significance of tunneling patterns. Accordingly, numerous studies have investigated tunneling behavior of subterranean termites using the planar arena, such as tunnel geometry (Puche & Su, ; Su et al, ), tunnel orientation (Campora & Grace, ), task allocation during excavation (Cornelius, ; Cornelius & Gallatin, ; Yang, Su, & Bardunias, ), behavioral responses (Lee, Bardunias, & Su, ; Lee Yang, & Su, , ) sand displacement (Li & Su, , ), branch formation (Hedlund & Henderson, ; Robson et al, ), and tunnel volume regulation (Bardunias & Su, , ; Su & Lee, ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Minimizing moving distance in deposition behavior of the subterranean termite

Lee

Song

et al. 2020

Ecology and Evolution

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Subterranean termite nests are located underground and termites forage out by constructing tunnels to reach food resources, and tunneling behavior is critical in order to maximize the foraging efficiency. Excavation, transportation, and deposition behavior are involved in the tunneling, and termites have to move back and forth to do this. Although there are three sequential behaviors, excavation has been the focus of most previous studies. In this study, we investigated the deposition behavior of the Formosan subterranean termite, Coptotermes formosanus Shiraki, in experimental arenas having different widths (2, 3, and 4 mm), and characterized the function of deposited particles. We also simulated moving distance of the termites in different functions. Our results showed that total amounts of deposited particles were significantly higher in broad (4 mm width) than narrow (2 mm) tunnels and most deposited particles were observed near the tip of the tunnel regardless of tunnel widths. In addition, we found that deposited particles followed a quadratic decrease function, and simulation results showed that moving distance of termites in this function was the shortest. The quadratic decrease function of deposited particles in both experiment and simulation suggested that short moving distance in the decrease quadratic function is a strategy to minimize moving distance during the deposition behavior.

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Task allocation in the tunneling behavior of workers of the Formosan subterranean termite, Coptotermes formosanus Shiraki

Cited by 7 publications

References 18 publications

Differential time allocation of foraging workers in the subterranean termite

Differential time allocation of foraging workers in the subterranean termite

Exploring the role of loop tunnels in enhancing termite food transport efficiency: A simulation approach

Minimizing moving distance in deposition behavior of the subterranean termite

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