The cavity-dwelling ant Leptothorax curvispinosus uses nest geometry to discriminate between potential homes

Pratt, Stephen C.; Pierce, Naomi E.

doi:10.1006/anbe.2001.1777

Cited by 62 publications

(66 citation statements)

References 31 publications

(34 reference statements)

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“…However, the ones used in the research correspond to cavity volumes of most frequently naturally occupied acorns by cavity-nest ant T. curvispinosus (cf. Pratt and Pierce, 2001), and are similar to cavity volumes of nests used by T. crassispinus (pers. obs.).…”

Section: Combined Field and Laboratory Experimentssupporting

confidence: 61%

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The cavity-nest ant Temnothorax crassispinus prefers larger nests

Mitrus

2014

Insect. Soc.

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Colonies of the ant Temnothorax crassispinus inhabit mostly cavities in wood and hollow acorns. Typically in the field, nest sites that can be used by the ant are a limited resource. In a field experiment, it was investigated whether the ants prefer a specific size of nest, when different ones are available. In July 2011, a total of 160 artificial nests were placed in a beech-pine forest. Four artificial nests (pieces of wood with volume cavities, ca 415, 605, 730, and 980 mm 3 , respectively) were located on each square meter of the experimental plot. One year later, shortly before the emergence of new sexuals, the nests were collected. In July 2012, colonies inhabited more frequently bigger nests. Among queenright colonies, the ones which inhabited bigger nests had more workers. However, there was no relationship between volume of nest and number of workers for queenless colonies. Queenright colonies from bigger nests produced more sexual individuals, but there was no correlation between number of workers and sex allocation ratio, or between volume of nest and sex allocation ratio. In a laboratory experiment where ant colonies were kept in 470 and 860 mm 3 nests, larger colonies allocated more energy to produce sexual individuals. The results of this study show the selectivity of T. crassispinus ants regarding the size of nest cavity, and that the nest volume has an impact on life history parameters.

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Section: Combined Field and Laboratory Experimentssupporting

confidence: 61%

“…Pratt and Pierce, 2001;Dornhaus et al, 2004;Franks et al, 2006Franks et al, , 2008Robinson et al, 2009;Doran et al, 2013;Kramer et al, 2013;Sasaki and Pratt, 2013). For example, it has been found that ants can select a nest from various sites available, guided by specific attributes, such as entrance size (i.e.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The cavity-nest ant Temnothorax crassispinus prefers larger nests

Mitrus

2014

Insect. Soc.

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“…Temnothorax ants prefer nests with a small entrance and build walls whenever the entrance is too large (Pratt and Pierce 2001). Colonies were forced to relocate to a new nest by removing the roof of their nest.…”

Section: ) Challengesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Decreasing worker size diversity does not affect colony performance during laboratory challenges in the ant Temnothorax nylanderi

Colin

Doums

Péronnet

et al. 2017

Behav Ecol Sociobiol

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Authors' contributions TC collected colonies, reared them, performed the experiments and statistical analyses, and wrote the manuscript. CD designed the study, contributed to statistical analysis and wrote the manuscript. RP collected colonies, and assisted in rearing and experiments. MM designed the study, wrote the manuscript, and supervised the project. All authors read and approved the final manuscript. Within-colony phenotypic diversity can play an essential role in some eusocial insect taxa by increasing the performance of division of labor, thereby increasing colony fitness. Empirical studies of the effect of phenotypic diversity on colony fitness mostly focused on species with discrete castes (workers, soldiers) or with continuously and highly morphologically variable workers, which is not the most common case. Indeed, most species exhibit continuous but limited worker morphological variation. It is still unclear whether this variation impacts colony fitness. To test this, we reduced the worker size diversity in 25 colonies of the ant Temnothorax nylanderi and compared their performances to 25 control colonies. We reared these colonies in the laboratory and measured the effect of treatment (reduced diversity or control) and colony size (number of workers) on colony performance at six challenges, as well as on worker mortality and brood production. The reduction of worker size diversity did not affect colony performance nor mortality and brood production. As expected, colony performance and brood production increased with colony size. These results suggest that worker size diversity may not be under positive selection in this species, but rather the product of a lack of developmental canalization. We propose that social life could decrease the selective pressures maintaining developmental canalization, subsequently leading to higher size diversity without necessarily increasing colony performance. 4 Significance statementIn social insects, nestmate size diversity is commonly thought to improve division of labour and colony performance. This has been clearly demonstrated in species with high size diversity, either discrete or continuous, but this is unclear in most of the social insects that exhibit low size diversity. We experimentally decreased worker size diversity in the ant Temnothorax nylanderi, a species with low worker size diversity. Reducing worker size diversity had no effect on colony performance, worker mortality or brood production. Our findings support the hypothesis that low size diversity is merely the product of developmental noise and is not necessarily adaptive. We propose that social life could relax the selective pressures maintaining developmental and social canalizations, subsequently leading to size diversity.5

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“…Ants of the genus Temnothorax use a well understood algorithm to solve the problem of choosing a new home after destruction of their fragile nest cavity (typically a rock crevice or hollow nut) (20)(21)(22)(23)(24)(25). The colony can decide among multiple options of different quality without the necessity for direct comparison among sites by well informed individuals.…”

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confidence: 99%

A tunable algorithm for collective decision-making

Pratt

Sumpter

2006

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

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135

120

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Complex biological systems are increasingly understood in terms of the algorithms that guide the behavior of system components and the information pathways that link them. Much attention has been given to robust algorithms, or those that allow a system to maintain its functions in the face of internal or external perturbations. At the same time, environmental variation imposes a complementary need for algorithm versatility, or the ability to alter system function adaptively as external circumstances change. An important goal of systems biology is thus the identification of biological algorithms that can meet multiple challenges rather than being narrowly specified to particular problems. Here we show that emigrating colonies of the ant Temnothorax curvispinosus tune the parameters of a single decision algorithm to respond adaptively to two distinct problems: rapid abandonment of their old nest in a crisis and deliberative selection of the best available new home when their old nest is still intact. The algorithm uses a stepwise commitment scheme and a quorum rule to integrate information gathered by numerous individual ants visiting several candidate homes. By varying the rates at which they search for and accept these candidates, the ants yield a colony-level response that adaptively emphasizes either speed or accuracy. We propose such general but tunable algorithms as a design feature of complex systems, each algorithm providing elegant solutions to a wide range of problems.biological complexity ͉ plasticity ͉ robustness

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The cavity-dwelling ant Leptothorax curvispinosus uses nest geometry to discriminate between potential homes

Cited by 62 publications

References 31 publications

The cavity-nest ant Temnothorax crassispinus prefers larger nests

The cavity-nest ant Temnothorax crassispinus prefers larger nests

Decreasing worker size diversity does not affect colony performance during laboratory challenges in the ant Temnothorax nylanderi

A tunable algorithm for collective decision-making

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