Social interactions promote adaptive resource defense in ants

Social insects vigorously defend their nests against con- and heterospecific competitors. Collective defense is also seen at highly profitable food sources. Aggressive responses are elicited or promoted by several means of communication, e.g. alarm pheromones and other chemical markings. In this stu...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:PloS one 2017-09, Vol.12 (9), p.e0183872-e0183872
Main Authors: Kleineidam, Christoph Johannes, Heeb, Eva Linda, Neupert, Stefanie
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adaptive systems
Aggressive behavior
Aggressiveness
Alarm systems
Animal behavior
Animals
Ants
Ants - physiology
Behavior, Animal - physiology
Biology
Biology and Life Sciences
Chemical communication
Ecology and Environmental Sciences
Endangered & extinct species
Food
Food sources
Forage
Insects
Nests
Neurobiology
Neurosciences
Pheromones
Physical Sciences
Research and Analysis Methods
Social aspects
Social Behavior
Social environment
Social factors
Social interactions
Workers (insect caste)
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Summary:Social insects vigorously defend their nests against con- and heterospecific competitors. Collective defense is also seen at highly profitable food sources. Aggressive responses are elicited or promoted by several means of communication, e.g. alarm pheromones and other chemical markings. In this study, we demonstrate that the social environment and interactions among colony members (nestmates) modulates the propensity to engage in aggressive behavior and therefore plays an important role in allocating workers to a defense task. We kept Formica rufa workers in groups or isolated for different time spans and then tested their aggressiveness in one-on-one encounters with other ants. In groups of more than 20 workers that are freely interacting, individuals are aggressive in one-on-one encounters with non-nestmates, whereas aggressiveness of isolated workers decreases with increasing isolation time. We conclude that ants foraging collectively and interacting frequently, e.g. along foraging trails and at profitable food sources, remain in a social context and thereby maintain high aggressiveness against potential competitors. Our results suggest that the nestmate recognition system can be utilized at remote sites for an adaptive and flexible tuning of the response against competitors.
ISSN:1932-6203
1932-6203
DOI:10.1371/journal.pone.0183872