Size distribution and battles in wood ants: group resource-holding potential is the sum of the individual parts
Size distribution and battles in wood ants: group resource-holding potential is the sum of the individual parts
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DOI：
10.1016/j.anbehav.2011.10.014
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发表时间：
2012-01-01
期刊：
影响因子：
2.5
通讯作者：
Briffa, Mark
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Batchelor, Tim P.;Santini, Giacomo;Briffa, Mark
在敌对群体之间的战斗中，攻击水平以及最终的结果可能会受到每个群体中个体数量和个体资源持有潜力（RHP）的影响。由于社会性动物的战斗可能涉及群体内的合作，群体内个体RHP的分布可能会影响整体群体能力。因此，团队的战斗力并不等同于个体RHP的总和。我们调查了在战斗中的木蚁，Formica rufa的个人RHP组内方差的影响。竞争对手的群体匹配的个人数量和平均个体大小，但不同的身体大小之间的方差。大的个体最具攻击性，小的个体最不具攻击性。总体而言，小型个体的损耗率最高，大型个体的损耗率最低，中型个体的损耗率适中。因此，侵略和损耗率在低方差组没有显着差异，从率在高方差组，表明当组的大小和平均体重是平等的，个人RHP的分布并不影响组的整体战斗能力。相反，似乎大的个人能够补偿较弱的群体成员的不良表现。版权所有（C）2011。由爱思唯尔有限公司代表动物行为研究协会出版。保留所有权利。
In battles between rival groups, aggression levels, and ultimately the outcome, may be influenced by the number of individuals and the resource-holding potential (RHP) of the individuals in each group. Since fighting in social animals can involve intragroup cooperation, the distribution of individual RHPs within the group could influence overall group ability. Thus, the total group fighting prowess might not simply equate to the sum of individual RHPs. We investigated the effects of within-group variance in individual RHP during battles in wood ants, Formica rufa. Rival groups were matched in number of individuals and mean body size of individuals but differed in the variance among body sizes. Larger individuals were most aggressive and small individuals were least aggressive. Overall, small individuals had the highest attrition rate and large individuals the lowest, with medium-sized individuals experiencing moderate attrition rates. Consequently, aggression and attrition rates in low-variance groups did not differ significantly from rates in high-variance groups, indicating that when group size and mean body mass are equal, the distribution of individual RHPs does not influence the overall fighting ability of the group. Rather, it appears that large individuals are able to compensate for poor performance by weaker group members. Crown Copyright (C) 2011. Published on behalf of The Association for the Study of Animal Behaviour by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.