Complexity of searching movement in the European harvester ant Messor wasmanni: effect of temperature and body size
Complexity of searching movement in the European harvester ant Messor wasmanni: effect of temperature and body size
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欧洲收获蚁 Messor wasmanni 搜索运动的复杂性：温度和体型的影响
DOI：
10.1007/s00040-018-0609-8
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发表时间：
2018
期刊：
影响因子：
1.3
通讯作者：
F. Frizzi
中科院分区：
文献类型：
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作者：
F. Frizzi
个体搜索行为是蚂蚁生态学的一个重要特征，它受到环境约束、竞争相互作用和形态学等多种因素的影响。在这项研究中，我调查了温度，身体大小和腿异速生长的多态欧洲收获蚁，Messor wasmanni搜索运动的影响。已知温度会增加移动速度，但它如何与形态相互作用以影响路径弯曲度尚不清楚。在这项研究中，蚂蚁根据尺寸（小，中，大）分组，并在三种不同温度下（10，20和30 °C）在中性竞技场中单独移动。通过评估平均速度，路径长度和路径复杂性，使用5个不同的指标来测量曲折度：均方位移（MSD），直线度（ST），栖息地利用强度（IU），弯曲度（SI）和分形维数（分形D）。搜索运动似乎没有受到强烈的影响，大小，即使极端的温度略有多样化的种姓之间的路径复杂性。最后，体重和腿长之间的关系进行了评估，以检验“尺寸粒”的假说之间的维度种姓。平均速度受到温度的强烈影响，但不是由蚂蚁的大小。复杂性指数通过与速度或路径长度的关系揭示了不同的结果。有趣的是，腿长和身体大小呈负相关，这表明腿在大蚂蚁中比在小蚂蚁中成比例地短，导致对该物种的“大小颗粒”假说的否定。因此，个体经历类似的土壤表面粗糙度，无论其大小。
Individual search behavior is an important feature of ant ecology that can be influenced by many factors including environmental constraints, competitive interactions, and morphology. In this study, I investigated the effects of temperature, body size, and leg allometry on search movement in the polymorphic European harvester ant, Messor wasmanni. Temperature is known to increase movement speed, but how it interacts with morphology to influence path sinuosity is unknown. Ants in this study were grouped according to dimension (small, medium, and large) and were filmed moving individually in a neutral arena at three different temperatures: 10, 20, and 30 °C. Movements were analyzed by evaluating mean speed, path length, and path complexity using 5 different indexes to survey tortuosity: Mean Square Displacement (MSD), Straightness (ST), Intensity of Habitat Use (IU), Sinuosity (SI), and Fractal Dimension (Fractal D). Search movement seemed not to be strongly affected by size, even though extreme temperatures faintly diversified the path complexity among castes. Finally, the relationship between body weight and leg length was evaluated to test the ‘size-grain’ hypothesis among dimensional castes. Mean speed was strongly affected by temperature, but not by the size of the ants. Complexity indexes revealed different outcomes through their relationship to speed or path length. Interestingly, leg length and body size were negatively correlated, indicating that legs are proportionally shorter in large rather than in small ants, causing rejection of the ‘size-grain’ hypothesis for this species. Thus, individuals experience a similar roughness of soil surface irrespective of their size.