Behavioural response of workers to repeated intergroup encounters in the harvester ant Messor barbarus
Behavioural response of workers to repeated intergroup encounters in the harvester ant Messor barbarus
复制标题
DOI：
10.1007/s00040-019-00710-2
复制
发表时间：
2019-08-01
期刊：
影响因子：
1.3
通讯作者：
Thompson, F. J.
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Birch, G.;Cant, M. A.;Thompson, F. J.
动物社会中合作的进化往往与对其他群体成员的敌意的进化有关。人们通常预测，受到外来者攻击的群体会变得更加团结或合作。然而，个体对真实的或模拟的群体间遭遇的反应差异很大，原因尚不清楚。我们测试了收获蚁的工人群体如何对暴露于不同殖民地的成员与自己殖民地的成员做出反应，以及先前暴露于入侵者如何影响组内反应的强度。我们发现，工人的活动增加，并有更多的接触后，立即接触到一个蚂蚁从不同的殖民地，但也表现出类似的行为反应，介绍涉及蚂蚁从自己的殖民地。然而，暴露于来自不同殖民地的入侵者导致了对第二个入侵者的更强烈的行为反应，不久之后遇到。我们的研究结果与社会脊椎动物的研究一致，这些研究表明，暴露于入侵者会增加社会凝聚力。我们的研究结果还表明，暴露于一个入侵者总理组成员更强烈地响应未来的入侵。我们的研究结果强调了理论模型的假设之间的脱节，这些理论模型研究了群体间冲突对多代人社会进化的影响，而短期行为反应是昆虫和脊椎动物群体间冲突研究的通常重点。
The evolution of cooperation in animal societies is often associated with the evolution of hostility towards members of other groups. It is usually predicted that groups under attack from outsiders should respond by becoming more cohesive or cooperative. However, the responses of individuals to real or simulated intergroup encounters vary widely, for reasons that are poorly understood. We tested how groups of workers of the harvester ant, Messor barbarus, responded to exposure to members of a different colony versus members of their own colony, and how previous exposure to an intruder affected the intensity of the within-group response. We found that workers increased in activity and had more contact with one another immediately following exposure to an ant from a different colony, but also showed a similar behavioural response to presentations involving an ant from their own colony. However, exposure to an intruder from a different colony resulted in much stronger behavioural responses to a second intruder, encountered shortly afterwards. Our results are consistent with studies of social vertebrates which suggest that exposure to intruders results in increased social cohesion. Our results also show that exposure to an intruder primes group members to respond more strongly to future intrusions. Our findings highlight a disconnect between the assumptions of theoretical models which study the effect of intergroup conflict on social evolution over many generations, and the short-term behavioural responses that are the usual focus of studies of intergroup conflict in insects and vertebrates.