Plasticity of Daily Behavioral Rhythms in Foragers and Nurses of the Ant Camponotus rufipes: Influence of Social Context and Feeding Times.
Plasticity of Daily Behavioral Rhythms in Foragers and Nurses of the Ant Camponotus rufipes: Influence of Social Context and Feeding Times.
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红弓背蚁觅食者和护士日常行为节律的可塑性：社会背景和进食时间的影响。
DOI：
10.1371/journal.pone.0169244
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发表时间：
2017
期刊：
影响因子：
3.7
通讯作者：
Roces F
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Mildner S;Roces F
蚁群内的日常活动需要精确的时间组织，而内源性时钟似乎对这种计时过程至关重要。一个时钟驱动运动节奏在孤立的工人在一些蚂蚁物种，但其参与的活动显示在社会背景是未知的。我们比较了运动节奏在孤立的个人和行为节奏的社会背景下的蚂蚁Camponotus rufipes工人。觅食和护士工人表现出昼夜节律的自发活动在恒定的条件下，表明参与的内源性时钟。活动主要是夜间和同步的12：12小时光暗周期。为了评估节奏是否保持在社会背景下，可以同步与非光的时间表，如喂养时间，每天的行为活动的单个工人的巢内和巢外连续超过24小时，在1656小时的视频记录。食物供应被限制在白天或晚上的一个短时间窗口内，从而模仿了食物供应暂时受限的自然条件。大多数觅食者表现出与食物供应同步的昼夜觅食行为，无论是在白天还是晚上。当孤立后，在单一的自发活动监测器，觅食主要表现出mammicity。在这里，高死亡率表明了前一种食物供应限制的潜在压力效应。相比之下，护士工作者在社会环境中表现出较高的整体活动水平，并在没有昼夜节律模式的情况下全天候执行任务，可能会满足育雏的需求。在孤立的情况下，同样的个体又表现出强烈的节律性活动和非对称性。因此，内源性的活动节奏被抑制在社会背景下，和日常行为的时间灵活地适应，以科普任务的要求。由于蜜蜂的昼夜节律具有类似的社会介导的可塑性，因此C.红足类和蜜蜂似乎具有相似的基本特征。
Daily activities within an ant colony need precise temporal organization, and an endogenous clock appears to be essential for such timing processes. A clock drives locomotor rhythms in isolated workers in a number of ant species, but its involvement in activities displayed in the social context is unknown. We compared locomotor rhythms in isolated individuals and behavioral rhythms in the social context of workers of the ant Camponotus rufipes. Both forager and nurse workers exhibited circadian rhythms in locomotor activity under constant conditions, indicating the involvement of an endogenous clock. Activity was mostly nocturnal and synchronized with the 12:12h light-dark-cycle. To evaluate whether rhythmicity was maintained in the social context and could be synchronized with non-photic zeitgebers such as feeding times, daily behavioral activities of single workers inside and outside the nest were quantified continuously over 24 hours in 1656 hours of video recordings. Food availability was limited to a short time window either at day or at night, thus mimicking natural conditions of temporally restricted food access. Most foragers showed circadian foraging behavior synchronized with food availability, either at day or nighttime. When isolated thereafter in single locomotor activity monitors, foragers mainly displayed arrhythmicity. Here, high mortality suggested potential stressful effects of the former restriction of food availability. In contrast, nurse workers showed high overall activity levels in the social context and performed their tasks all around the clock with no circadian pattern, likely to meet the needs of the brood. In isolation, the same individuals exhibited in turn strong rhythmic activity and nocturnality. Thus, endogenous activity rhythms were inhibited in the social context, and timing of daily behaviors was flexibly adapted to cope with task demands. As a similar socially-mediated plasticity in circadian rhythms was already shown in honey bees, the temporal organization in C. rufipes and honey bees appear to share similar basic features.