Dissertation Research: Nutritional Ecology of Social Insects

论文研究：社会昆虫的营养生态学

• 批准号: 0105046
• 负责人: Joan Herbers
• 金额: $ 0.36万
• 依托单位: Colorado State University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2001
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2001-05-01 至 2002-04-30
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=0105046&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Dissertation; Research; Nutritional; Ecology; Social

Dissertation Research: Nutritional Ecology of Social InsectsJoan M. Herbers and Timothy M. JuddSeasonal changes affect the foraging strategies of animals. Previous experiments demonstrated that colonies of the ant Pheidole ceres change their foraging behavior seasonally. When presented with both sugars and proteins, the ants increased their intake of protein when they had more larvae in the colony. In this proposed study, two hypotheses to explain that increase will be examined. First, the way in which the workers assess the needs of the larvae will be explored. Colonies will be split into four subunits, each given a different diet, and then the brood will be exchanged between them; offering choices between proteins and sugars throughout the experiment will show how the treatments affect the ants' foraging decisions. Second, the types of nutrients stored by ants will be assessed by measuring total protein and total fat found in individual ants collected throughout the year. Finally, the ants' foraging behavior will be compared to the types of nutrients they are storing. Together, these experiments will provide insight to how ant colonies meet nutritional demands.

博士学位论文研究：社会昆虫的营养生态学。Herbers和Timothy M.季节变化影响动物的觅食策略。先前的实验表明，蚁群的蚁群会季节性地改变它们的觅食行为。当同时提供糖和蛋白质时，当殖民地中有更多的幼虫时，蚂蚁会增加蛋白质的摄入量。在这项拟议的研究中，将检验解释这种增加的两个假设。首先，将探讨工作人员评估幼虫需求的方法。蚁群将被分成四个亚单位，每个亚单位有不同的饮食，然后在它们之间交换幼蚁;在整个实验中提供蛋白质和糖的选择将显示治疗如何影响蚂蚁的觅食决定。第二，蚂蚁储存的营养素类型将通过测量全年收集的个体蚂蚁中的总蛋白质和总脂肪来评估。最后，蚂蚁的觅食行为将与它们储存的营养物质类型进行比较。总之，这些实验将为蚁群如何满足营养需求提供见解。