Testing the adjustable threshold model for intruder recognition on Myrmica ants in the context of a social parasite
Testing the adjustable threshold model for intruder recognition on Myrmica ants in the context of a social parasite
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DOI：
10.1098/rspb.2011.0581
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发表时间：
2012-02-07
影响因子：
4.7
通讯作者：
Nash, David R.
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Furst, Matthias A.;Durey, Maelle;Nash, David R.
社会性昆虫群体就像堡垒一样，受到很好的保护，并拥有丰富的共享存储资源。这使它们成为捕食者、寄生虫和竞争对手利用的理想目标。红蚁的殖民地有时会被寄生蝴蝶斑蚁利用。斑蚁通过模仿蚂蚁表皮的碳氢化合物识别线索进入蚂蚁的巢穴，这使得寄生虫能够与宿主蚂蚁混在一起。桃金娘可能特别容易受到这种方式的剥削，因为它有很多女王和非常粘稠的人口结构的大，多室的殖民地。我们研究了我的相互攻击行为。基于识别有效性预测的红点集落。检验了三个假设：第一，侵略性随着距离的增加而增加（地理、遗传和化学）;第二，蚁群中的蚁后越多，因此蚁群中的工蚁越不相关，它们的侵略性就越小;面对寄生虫的蚁群比经历较少寄生虫压力的蚁群更具侵略性。我们的研究结果证实了所有这些预测，支持灵活的侵略行为Myrmica蚂蚁取决于上下文。
Social insect colonies are like fortresses, well protected and rich in shared stored resources. This makes them ideal targets for exploitation by predators, parasites and competitors. Colonies of Myrmica rubra ants are sometimes exploited by the parasitic butterfly Maculinea alcon. Maculinea alcon gains access to the ants' nests by mimicking their cuticular hydrocarbon recognition cues, which allows the parasites to blend in with their host ants. Myrmica rubra may be particularly susceptible to exploitation in this fashion as it has large, polydomous colonies with many queens and a very viscous population structure. We studied the mutual aggressive behaviour of My. rubra colonies based on predictions for recognition effectiveness. Three hypotheses were tested: first, that aggression increases with distance (geographical, genetic and chemical); second, that the more queens present in a colony and therefore the less-related workers within a colony, the less aggressively they will behave; and that colonies facing parasitism will be more aggressive than colonies experiencing less parasite pressure. Our results confirm all these predictions, supporting flexible aggression behaviour in Myrmica ants depending on context.