Harvester ant colony variation in foraging activity and response to humidity

Collective behavior is produced by interactions among individuals. Differences among groups in individual response to interactions can lead to ecologically important variation among groups in collective behavior. Here we examine variation among colonies in the foraging behavior of the harvester ant,...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:PloS one 2013-05, Vol.8 (5), p.e63363-e63363
Main Authors: Gordon, Deborah M, Dektar, Katherine N, Pinter-Wollman, Noa
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Animal behavior
Animal Distribution
Animal reproduction
Animals
Ants - physiology
Biology
Colonies
Desiccation
Drying
Ecology
Feeding Behavior
Field tests
Food
Food availability
Forage
Forages
Foraging behavior
Harvesting
Humidity
Physiology
Pogonomyrmex barbatus
Random variables
Seeds
Solenopsis invicta
Variation
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Summary:Collective behavior is produced by interactions among individuals. Differences among groups in individual response to interactions can lead to ecologically important variation among groups in collective behavior. Here we examine variation among colonies in the foraging behavior of the harvester ant, Pogonomyrmex barbatus. Previous work shows how colonies regulate foraging in response to food availability and desiccation costs: the rate at which outgoing foragers leave the nest depends on the rate at which foragers return with food. To examine how colonies vary in response to humidity and in foraging rate, we performed field experiments that manipulated forager return rate in 94 trials with 17 colonies over 3 years. We found that the effect of returning foragers on the rate of outgoing foragers increases with humidity. There are consistent differences among colonies in foraging activity that persist from year to year.
ISSN:1932-6203
1932-6203
DOI:10.1371/journal.pone.0063363