Tandem Recruitment and Foraging in the Ponerine Ant Pachycondyla harpax (Fabricius)
Tandem Recruitment and Foraging in the Ponerine Ant Pachycondyla harpax (Fabricius)
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DOI：
10.1007/s13744-017-0571-6
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发表时间：
2018-12-01
影响因子：
1.8
通讯作者：
Nascimento, F. S.
中科院分区：
文献类型：
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作者：
Grueter, C.;Wuest, M.;Nascimento, F. S.
串联奔跑是蚁群规模较小的蚂蚁物种的常见招募策略。在双人奔跑中，消息灵通的领导者会引导通常天真的同伴找到食物源或筑巢地点。有些物种仅在狩猎时进行串联奔跑，这表明串联奔跑并不总是能提高已知使用串联奔跑作为招募策略的物种的觅食成功率，但需要更多关于自然条件下串联奔跑的自然历史信息，以更好地理解串联招募在觅食中的适应性意义。通过研究巴西的野生蚁群，我们首次描述了马蚁 Pachycondyla harpax (Fabricius) 的串联奔跑。我们询问采集者是否会串联运行碳水化合物（蜂蜜）和富含蛋白质（奶酪）的食物。此外，我们还测试了串联奔跑的速度和成功率是否取决于觅食距离。采集者对碳水化合物食物来源和超过一定大小的富含蛋白质的食物进行串联运行。进行串联奔跑的概率和行进速度随着觅食距离的增加而增加，这可以帮助殖民地在竞争环境中垄断更远的食物来源。对于领导者来说，引导新兵找到食物来源的成本很高，因为单独行动时，蚂蚁的速度要快 66%。如果串联奔跑破裂（类似于所有串联奔跑的 23%），追随者通常不会自行发现食物来源，而是返回巢穴。我们的研究结果表明，在哈帕克斯中，串联奔向食物源是很常见的，但觅食者会根据食物的类型及其与巢的距离来改变自己的行为。与其他蚂蚁的竞争非常激烈，我们讨论了 P. harpax 中的串联奔跑如何帮助蚁群在大型食物处聚集足够数量的蚂蚁，从而保护食物来源免受竞争对手的侵害。
Tandem running is a common recruitment strategy in ant species with small colony sizes. During a tandem run, an informed leader guides a usually naive nestmate to a food source or a nest site. Some species perform tandem runs only during house hunting, suggesting that tandem running does not always improve foraging success in species known to use tandem running as a recruitment strategy, but more natural history information on tandem running under natural conditions is needed to better understand the adaptive significance of tandem recruitment in foraging. Studying wild colonies in Brazil, we for the first time describe tandem running in the ponerine ant Pachycondyla harpax (Fabricius). We asked if foragers perform tandem runs to carbohydrate- (honey) and protein-rich (cheese) food items. Furthermore, we tested whether the speed and success rate of tandem runs depend on the foraging distance. Foragers performed tandem runs to both carbohydrate food sources and protein-rich food items that exceed a certain size. The probability to perform a tandem run and the travelling speed increase with increasing foraging distances, which could help colonies monopolize more distant food sources in a competitive environment. Guiding a recruit to a food source is costly for leaders as ants are similar to 66% faster when travelling alone. If tandem runs break up (similar to 23% of all tandem runs), followers do not usually discover the food source on their own but return to the nest. Our results show that tandem running to food sources is common in P. harpax, but that foragers modify their behaviour according to the type of food and its distance from the nest. Competition with other ants was intense and we discuss how tandem running in P. harpax might help colonies to build-up a critical number of ants at large food items that can then defend the food source against competitors.