The red and the black: habituation and the dear-enemy phenomenon in two desert Pheidole ants

Langen, Tom A.; Tripet, Frédéric; Nonacs, Peter

doi:10.1007/s002650000223

Cited by 116 publications

(111 citation statements)

References 25 publications

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“…Rather, the behavioural variation observed might depend on (i) the context as suggested, for example, for L. austriacus (Steiner et al 2007), or (ii) the experience of workers in previous encounters with non-nestmates (Van Wilgenburg et al 2010), or (iii) environmentally derived cuticular hydrocarbon cues (Liang & Silverman 2000). Furthermore, recent studies regarding correlations between behaviour and, for example, spatial distance revealed contrasting results: in some cases, spatial distance and aggressive behaviour were correlated (Pirk et al 2001; Benedek & Kobori 2014; Frizzi et al 2015; Fournier et al 2016), while in others, no correlation was observed (Langen et al 2000; van Wilgenburg 2007; Martin et al 2012), corroborating the general need for further studies. A correlation known from other studies is one between aggressive behaviour and recognition cues (e.g.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 94%

An Alpine ant’s behavioural polymorphism: monogyny with and without internest aggression inTetramorium alpestre

Krapf

Russo

Arthofer

et al. 2017

Ethology Ecology & Evolution

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Social structure influences animal societies on various levels (e.g., relatedness, behaviour). In ants, both the number of matings per queen and the number of queens per colony can vary strongly. While workers from both monogynous and polygynous colonies often fight fiercely, in supercolonies (an extreme form of polygyny comprising thousands of queens in spatially separated but interconnected nests), non-nestmates interact peacefully. Studies on social and behavioural polymorphism within ant species can help elucidate their influence on genetic diversity and behaviour and the factors triggering variation in social structure and behaviour. Here, we reveal a behavioural and social polymorphism comprising monogyny with and without internest aggression in Tetramorium alpestre sampled in Tyrol, Austria. The social polymorphism is based on genetic and behavioural evidence and contrasts with the supercolonial organisation known from another location in Austria (Carinthia), 150 km away. Microsatellite genotyping using eight polymorphic loci revealed monogyny-monandry and high intranest pairwise relatedness. Interestingly, various experimental one-on-one worker encounters revealed only occasional aggressive behaviour between monogynous colonies, and thus a behavioural polymorphism. Mantel tests revealed a significant negative correlation between spatial distance and relatedness, while worker behaviour was not correlated with relatedness or spatial distance. These results indicate that behaviour might be influenced by other factors – for example, the experience of workers, ecological, chemical, and/or genetic factors not characterised in this study. However, workers distinguished nestmates from non-nestmates also when aggression was lacking. We hypothesise an adaptive value of reduced aggression. We speculate that the non-aggressive and partly aggressive encounters observed represent different options in the social structure of T. alpestre, the non-aggressiveness possibly also promoting supercolony development. The social and behavioural polymorphisms observed offer opportunities to identify the factors triggering these changes and thus further explore the behavioural and social polymorphism of this ant species.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 94%

An Alpine ant’s behavioural polymorphism: monogyny with and without internest aggression inTetramorium alpestre

Krapf

Russo

Arthofer

et al. 2017

Ethology Ecology & Evolution

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“…Competing Argentine ant colonies will most likely interact with each other at advancing invasion fronts where they are likely to compete for nesting sites and/or food resources that provide similar nestmate recognition cues. In areas where mutually aggressive colonies exploit a common locally abundant food source, two mechanisms may work independently or together to promote fusion of neighboring colonies: diet sharing and intraspecific Bdear enemy^phenomenon, whereby competing animals respond less aggressively to threats by neighbors than strangers (Temeles, 1994;Heinze et al, 1996;Langen et al, 2000). Diet sharing through cooperative use of locally abundant food sources may provide sufficient levels of critical hydrocarbons to alter nestmate recognition and promote fusion of colonies.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Diet-Related Modification of Cuticular Hydrocarbon Profiles of the Argentine Ant, Linepithema humile, Diminishes Intercolony Aggression

et al. 2005

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Abstract-Territorial boundaries between conspecific social insect colonies are maintained through a highly developed nestmate recognition system modulated by heritable and, in some instances, nonheritable cues. Argentine ants, Linepithema humile, use both genetic and environmentally derived cues to discriminate nestmates from nonnestmates. We explored the possibility that intraspecific aggression in the Argentine ant might diminish when colonies shared a common diet. After segregating recently field-collected colony pairs into high or moderate aggression categories, we examined the effect of one of three diets: two hydrocarbon-rich insect prey, Blattella germanica and Supella longipalpa, and an artificial (insect-free) diet, on the magnitude of aggression loss. Aggression diminished between colony pairs that were initially moderately aggressive. However, initially highly aggressive colony pairs maintained high levels of injurious aggression throughout the study, independent of diet type. Each diet altered the cuticular hydrocarbon profile by contributing unique, diet-specific cues. We suggest that acquisition of common exogenous nestmate recognition cues from shared food sources may diminish aggression and promote fusion in neighboring colonies of the Argentine ant.

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“…This seed-harvesting ant defends foraging areas and their nests are often over-dispersed suggesting that colonies may compete for resources (Bernstein, 1979;Bernstein and Gobbel, 1979). In a previous study (Langen et al, 2000) of the same P. xerophylla population we found remarkable variation in aggression levels between colonies. We hypothesized that aggression patterns between P. xerophylla colonies might be modulated by kin recognition mechanisms.…”

Section: Patterns Of Aggression In Pheidole Xerophyllamentioning

confidence: 56%

“…In one species, they were also found to adjust the production of soldiers in response to intraspecifi c competition (Passera et al, 1996). P. xerophylla exhibits considerable variation in aggression levels between colonies and our previous study showed that part of the variation in aggression level was explained by workers from neighboring colonies being less aggressive towards each other than workers from colonies located farther away (Langen et al, 2000). This 'dear enemy phenomenon' was only detectable at short distances (<3m) and probably occurred as a result of habituation from repeated encounters with foragers from neighbor colonies (Langen et al, 2000).…”

Section: Patterns Of Aggression In Pheidole Xerophyllamentioning

confidence: 95%

Kin recognition and the paradoxical patterns of aggression between colonies of a Mojave desert Pheidole ant

et al. 2006

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Abstract. Populations of the desert seed-harvesting ant Pheidole xerophylla are often characterized by high nest density leading to competitive interactions between foragers from different nests. We investigated the inter-nest aggression, spatial distribution and genetic structure of a P. xerophylla population of the Mojave Desert in Southern California. Inter-nest aggression was quantifi ed by standardized staged encounters in a neutral arena. Genetic relatedness within nests and relatedness between nests were calculated using allelic frequencies at four microsatellite-DNA loci. We found a bimodal distribution of inter-colony aggression levels with a fi rst mode at low aggression levels and another mode at much higher aggression levels. Inter-colony aggression levels were largely non-transitive. No effect of geographical distance on inter-nest aggression levels was detected. Despite high amounts of variation in inter-colony relatedness (-0.24 to 0.37) this variable did not correlate with the level of aggression between nests. Intra-nest relatedness ranged from 0.40 to 0.75 and close inspection of worker genotypes within colonies revealed a high proportion of polygynous colonies or a mixture of polygyny and polyandry. Aggression levels among nests was found to decrease with increasing intra-nest relatedness. These results do not support the idea that aggression is modulated by a nestmate recognition mechanism based on overall genetic similarity. Instead, the absence of transitivity found in inter-colony aggression and bimodal distribution of aggression levels are compatible with a common label acceptance model of nestmate recognition and suggest that label diversity may be encoded by a limited number of loci.

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The red and the black: habituation and the dear-enemy phenomenon in two desert Pheidole ants

Cited by 116 publications

References 25 publications

An Alpine ant’s behavioural polymorphism: monogyny with and without internest aggression inTetramorium alpestre

An Alpine ant’s behavioural polymorphism: monogyny with and without internest aggression inTetramorium alpestre

Diet-Related Modification of Cuticular Hydrocarbon Profiles of the Argentine Ant, Linepithema humile, Diminishes Intercolony Aggression

Kin recognition and the paradoxical patterns of aggression between colonies of a Mojave desert Pheidole ant

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