What drives patrolling behaviour by nasute termites? A model and an empirical assessment

Animals have evolved a number of antipredator strategies, which can reflect both intrinsic and extrinsic factors related to predation risk. In many termite species, a chemically armed soldier caste known as “nasute” engages in patrols upon breaching of foraging galleries, suggesting an adaptive resp...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Ethology 2017-06, Vol.123 (6-7), p.434-441
Main Authors: Pequeno, Pedro A. C. L., Hebets, E.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
allometric scaling
Animals
Anti-predator behavior
antipredator behaviour
Circumferences
Cues
eusocial insect
Forage
foraging behaviour
Galleries
Isoptera
Mathematical models
Mortality
Ontogeny
Patrols
Predation
Risk assessment
Risk factors
Scaling
Soldiers (insect caste)
Structural damage
Trees
vigilance
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Animals have evolved a number of antipredator strategies, which can reflect both intrinsic and extrinsic factors related to predation risk. In many termite species, a chemically armed soldier caste known as “nasute” engages in patrols upon breaching of foraging galleries, suggesting an adaptive response to imminent risk of mortality. However, the drivers of this collective behaviour are poorly understood. Here, I describe and test a qualitative model of patrolling behaviour upon gallery breaching by the arboreal termite Nasutitermes corniger (Termitidae: Nasutitermitinae). Patrolling behaviour is postulated to change throughout colony ontogeny, thus scaling with colony size. Further, this pattern is expected to be modulated by extrinsic cues for predation risk. Accordingly, patroller number increased with tree circumference at breast height, a surrogate for colony size. However, for any tree size, more soldiers engaged in patrols after repeated breaching, suggesting sensitization to structural damage. In parallel, patrolling rate (i.e., patroller number per time unit) was higher in smaller trees due to a disproportionate increase in patrol duration with patroller number. However, this response only occurred after repeated breaching; otherwise, patrolling rate was constant across tree sizes. Overall, patrolling behaviour by N. corniger seems to reflect intrinsic risks related to colony growth, adjusted by the extrinsic risk imposed by structural damage.
ISSN:0179-1613
1439-0310
DOI:10.1111/eth.12610