The short-term regulation of foraging in harvester ants
The short-term regulation of foraging in harvester ants
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DOI：
10.1093/beheco/arm125
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发表时间：
2008-01-01
影响因子：
2.4
通讯作者：
Nacu, Serban
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Gordon, Deborah M.;Holmes, Susan;Nacu, Serban
在以种子为食的蚂蚁Pogonomyrmex pagulatus中，成功觅食的蚂蚁返回会刺激不活跃的觅食蚂蚁离开巢穴。成功的觅食者返回巢穴的速度取决于食物的可用性;可用的食物越多，觅食者就越快找到它并把它带回来。野外实验研究了蜂群通过减缓觅食活动来适应觅食者返回率下降的速度，从而适应食物供应下降的速度。在响应一个简短的，3至5分钟减少觅食返回率，觅食活动通常在2-3分钟内下降，然后在5分钟内恢复。这表明，是否一个不活跃的觅食离开巢的下一次旅行取决于其最近的经验觅食返回率。在某些日子里，殖民地的反应更觅食回报率的变化。快速的殖民地响应觅食返回率的波动，使殖民地作为规避风险的觅食，可能会出现从有限的时间间隔内，蚂蚁可以跟踪其遇到返回觅食。
In the seed-eating ant Pogonomyrmex barbatus, the return of successful foragers stimulates inactive foragers to leave the nest. The rate at which successful foragers return to the nest depends on food availability; the more food available, the more quickly foragers will find it and bring it back. Field experiments examined how quickly a colony can adjust to a decline in the rate of forager return, and thus to a decline in food availability, by slowing down foraging activity. In response to a brief, 3- to 5-min reduction in the forager return rate, foraging activity usually decreased within 2-3 min and then recovered within 5 min. This indicates that whether an inactive forager leaves the nest on its next trip depends on its very recent experience of the rate of forager return. On some days, colonies responded more to a change in forager return rate. The rapid colony response to fluctuations in forager return rate, enabling colonies to act as risk-averse foragers, may arise from the limited interval over which an ant can track its encounters with returning foragers.