Productivity increases with variation in aggression among group members in Temnothorax ants
Productivity increases with variation in aggression among group members in Temnothorax ants
复制标题
DOI：
10.1093/beheco/arr086
复制
发表时间：
2011-09-01
影响因子：
2.4
通讯作者：
Foitzik, Susanne
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Modlmeier, Andreas P.;Foitzik, Susanne
群居昆虫社会的特点不仅在于蜂后和工蜂之间的生殖分工，而且在于工蜂分工完成不同的任务。然而，这种行为或形态的变化如何影响工蚁群体的适应性在很大程度上是未知的。我们研究了蚂蚁Temnothorax longispinosus的攻击和探索行为和/或这些行为特征在巢穴配偶之间的变化是否与一个重要的适合度测量有关，即每个工蚁的后代产量。此外，我们还研究了工蜂的体型和体型变化如何影响蚁群的适应性。首先，我们发现工蚁在体型、攻击性和探索行为上存在很大差异。最值得注意的是，群体内的攻击变异与每个工人的生产率正相关，这表明具有较高的工人攻击变异的群体具有选择优势。由于密集斑块中的蚁群更具攻击性和生产力，我们不能排除这样一种可能性，即更高的生产力和更大的攻击性变化都是良好栖息地质量的结果，而不是彼此之间的因果影响。该研究表明，具有更强行为差异的社会性昆虫群体，可能具有更有效的任务分配，在野外生产效率更高。
Social insect societies are characterized not only by a reproductive division of labor between the queen and workers but also by a specialization of workers on different tasks. However, how this variation in behavior or morphology among workers influences colony fitness is largely unknown. We investigated in the ant Temnothorax longispinosus whether aggressive and exploratory behavior and/or variation among nest mates in these behavioral traits are associated with an important fitness measure, that is, per worker offspring production. In addition, we studied how body size and variation in size among workers affect this colony fitness correlate. First, we found strong differences in worker body size, aggression, and exploration behavior among colonies. Most notably, intracolonial variance in aggression was positively correlated with per worker productivity, suggesting a selective advantage of colonies with a higher variability in worker aggression. Because ant colonies in dense patches were both more aggressive and more productive, we cannot exclude the possibility that higher productivity and greater variability in aggression could both be results of good habitat quality and not causal influences on one another. This study suggests that social insect societies with stronger behavioral variation among nest members, and possibly a more efficient task allocation, are more productive in the field.