Differential Response of Ant Colonies to Intruders: Attack Strategies Correlate With Potential Threat
Differential Response of Ant Colonies to Intruders: Attack Strategies Correlate With Potential Threat
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蚁群对入侵者的差异反应：攻击策略与潜在威胁相关
DOI：
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发表时间：
2011
期刊：
影响因子：
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通讯作者：
S. Foitzik
中科院分区：
文献类型：
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作者：
I. Scharf;T. Pamminger;S. Foitzik
动物经常受到捕食者、寄生虫或竞争对手的威胁，攻击这些敌人是一种常见的反应，这有助于消除危险。防御的代价是复杂的，包括受伤的风险，精力/时间的损失，以及错误地将朋友识别为敌人。我们的目标是研究防御策略的特异性。我们分析了蚂蚁殖民地的侵略性的反应，面对他们与工人的一个不熟悉的同类物种，一个非nestmate同种，一个共同发生的同类竞争对手的物种，和社会寄生虫奴隶制造蚂蚁。正如预期的那样，后一种物种，可以造成显着的健身损失的殖民地，是最具侵略性的对待。一个共同出现的竞争对手也受到了攻击，但蚂蚁在对两个敌人的反应中使用了不同的行为。当奴隶制造者受到咬和刺的攻击，并被张开的下颚接近时，竞争者被拖走，只有当防御蚂蚁在大小和力量上与对手相似时，这种行为策略才有可能。非巢伴侣同种也被积极对待，但比奴隶制造者和共同出现的竞争对手少，大概是因为他们不太容易被识别为敌人。一个不熟悉的同类物种很少受到攻击。这是第一个详细的研究，比较了蚁群对奴隶制造蚂蚁和其他构成不同威胁的物种的攻击性反应，表明蚁群的反应是根据每个对手对殖民地构成的风险进行调整的。
Animals are often threatened by predators, parasites, or competitors, and attacks against these enemies are a common response, which can help to remove the danger. The costs of defense are complex and involve the risk of injury, the loss of energy ⁄time, and the erroneous identification of a friend as a foe. Our goal was to study the specificity of defense strategies. We analyzed the aggressive responses of ant colonies by confronting them with workers of an unfamiliar congeneric species, a non-nestmate conspecific, a co-occurring congeneric competitor species, and a social parasite—a slave-making ant. As expected, the latter species, which can inflict dramatic fitness losses to the colony, was treated with most aggression. A co-occurring competitor was also attacked, but the ants used different behaviors in their responses to both enemies. While the slavemaker was attacked by biting and stinging and was approached with spread mandibles, the competitor was dragged, a behavioral strategy only possible if the defending ant is similar in size and strength to the opponent. Non-nestmate conspecifics were treated aggressively as well, but less than the slavemaker and the co-occurring competitor, presumably because they are less easily recognized as enemies. An unfamiliar congeneric species was rarely attacked. This first detailed study comparing the aggressive responses of ant colonies toward slave-making ants to other species posing different threats indicates that the responses of ant colonies are adjusted to the risk each opponent poses to the colony.
DOI：
10.1093/beheco/arq191
发表时间：
2011-03
期刊：
Behavioral ecology : official journal of the International Society for Behavioral Ecology
影响因子：
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作者：
Pamminger T;Scharf I;Pennings PS;Foitzik S
通讯作者：
Foitzik S