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Similarities in Recognition Cues Lead to the Infiltration of Non-Nestmates in an Ant Species. J Chem Ecol 2021; 48:16-26. [PMID: 34762209 DOI: 10.1007/s10886-021-01325-3] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/10/2021] [Revised: 10/12/2021] [Accepted: 10/17/2021] [Indexed: 10/19/2022]
Abstract
Chemical cues are among the most important information-sharing mechanisms in insect societies, in which cuticular hydrocarbons play a central role, e.g., from nestmate recognition to queen signaling. The nestmate recognition mechanism usually prevents intruders from taking advantage of the resources stored in the nest. However, nestmate recognition is not unconditionally effective, and foreign individuals can sometimes infiltrate unrelated nests and take advantage of the colony resources. In this study, we investigated the role of overall colony odor profiles on the ability of conspecific workers to drift into unrelated colonies. We hypothesized that drifters would have higher chances of success by infiltrating colonies with the odor profiles most similar to their own nest, avoiding being detected as non-nestmates. By performing a drifting bioassay, we found that workers of the ant Formica fusca infiltrated unrelated conspecific colonies at a rate of 2.4%, significantly infiltrating colonies displaying CHC profiles most similar to their natal nests. Notably, methyl branched hydrocarbons seem to play a role as recognition cues in this species. In addition, we show that environmental rather than genetic factors are responsible for most contributions on the CHC phenotype, presenting ca. of 50% and 27.5% of explained variation respectively, and playing a major role in how worker ants detect and prevent the infiltration of non-nestmates in the colony. Hence, relying on cuticular hydrocarbons similarities could be a profitably evolutionary strategy by which workers can identify conspecific colonies, evade detection by guards, and avoid competition with genetic relatives.
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2
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Friedman DA, Tschantz A, Ramstead MJD, Friston K, Constant A. Active Inferants: An Active Inference Framework for Ant Colony Behavior. Front Behav Neurosci 2021; 15:647732. [PMID: 34248515 PMCID: PMC8264549 DOI: 10.3389/fnbeh.2021.647732] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/30/2020] [Accepted: 05/18/2021] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
In this paper, we introduce an active inference model of ant colony foraging behavior, and implement the model in a series of in silico experiments. Active inference is a multiscale approach to behavioral modeling that is being applied across settings in theoretical biology and ethology. The ant colony is a classic case system in the function of distributed systems in terms of stigmergic decision-making and information sharing. Here we specify and simulate a Markov decision process (MDP) model for ant colony foraging. We investigate a well-known paradigm from laboratory ant colony behavioral experiments, the alternating T-maze paradigm, to illustrate the ability of the model to recover basic colony phenomena such as trail formation after food location discovery. We conclude by outlining how the active inference ant colony foraging behavioral model can be extended and situated within a nested multiscale framework and systems approaches to biology more generally.
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Affiliation(s)
- Daniel Ari Friedman
- Department of Entomology and Nematology, University of California, Davis, Davis, CA, United States
- Active Inference Lab, University of California, Davis, Davis, CA, United States
| | - Alec Tschantz
- Sackler Centre for Consciousness Science, University of Sussex, Brighton, United Kingdom
- Department of Informatics, University of Sussex, Brighton, United Kingdom
| | - Maxwell J. D. Ramstead
- Division of Social and Transcultural Psychiatry, Department of Psychiatry, McGill University, Montreal, QC, Canada
- Culture, Mind, and Brain Program, McGill University, Montreal, QC, Canada
- Wellcome Centre for Human Neuroimaging, University College London, London, United Kingdom
- Spatial Web Foundation, Los Angeles, CA, United States
| | - Karl Friston
- Wellcome Centre for Human Neuroimaging, University College London, London, United Kingdom
| | - Axel Constant
- Theory and Method in Biosciences, The University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW, Australia
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3
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Qiu GH, Yang X, Zheng X, Huang C. The eukaryotic genome is structurally and functionally more like a social insect colony than a book. Epigenomics 2017; 9:1469-1483. [PMID: 28972397 DOI: 10.2217/epi-2017-0059] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/27/2023] Open
Abstract
Traditionally, the genome has been described as the 'book of life'. However, the metaphor of a book may not reflect the dynamic nature of the structure and function of the genome. In the eukaryotic genome, the number of centrally located protein-coding sequences is relatively constant across species, but the amount of noncoding DNA increases considerably with the increase of organismal evolutional complexity. Therefore, it has been hypothesized that the abundant peripheral noncoding DNA protects the genome and the central protein-coding sequences in the eukaryotic genome. Upon comparison with the habitation, sociality and defense mechanisms of a social insect colony, it is found that the genome is similar to a social insect colony in various aspects. A social insect colony may thus be a better metaphor than a book to describe the spatial organization and physical functions of the genome. The potential implications of the metaphor are also discussed.
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Affiliation(s)
- Guo-Hua Qiu
- Fujian Provincial Key Laboratory for the Prevention & Control of Animal Infectious Diseases & Biotechnology, College of Life Sciences, Longyan University, Longyan 364012, Fujian, PR China
| | - Xiaoyan Yang
- Fujian Provincial Key Laboratory for the Prevention & Control of Animal Infectious Diseases & Biotechnology, College of Life Sciences, Longyan University, Longyan 364012, Fujian, PR China
| | - Xintian Zheng
- Fujian Provincial Key Laboratory for the Prevention & Control of Animal Infectious Diseases & Biotechnology, College of Life Sciences, Longyan University, Longyan 364012, Fujian, PR China
| | - Cuiqin Huang
- Fujian Provincial Key Laboratory for the Prevention & Control of Animal Infectious Diseases & Biotechnology, College of Life Sciences, Longyan University, Longyan 364012, Fujian, PR China
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Sánchez D, Solórzano-Gordillo E, Vandame R. A Study on Intraspecific Resource Partitioning in the Stingless bee Scaptotrigona mexicana Guérin (Apidae, Meliponini) Using Behavioral and Molecular Techniques. NEOTROPICAL ENTOMOLOGY 2016; 45:518-523. [PMID: 27197722 DOI: 10.1007/s13744-016-0404-z] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/27/2015] [Accepted: 04/11/2016] [Indexed: 06/05/2023]
Abstract
As a general rule, within an ecological guild, there is one species that is dominant and is commonly the most abundant. The aim of this work was to investigate if such pattern occurs intraspecifically, among colonies of the stingless bee Scaptotrigona mexicana Guérin. Through behavioral and molecular techniques, we found preliminary evidence that apparently colonies of this species do not monopolize resources, instead they seem to share food; however, some colonies had more foragers in a food patch or in a feeder, so some type of exclusion could be at work, though we could not determine the final output of such interaction, i.e., if underrepresented colonies were eventually excluded, developed slower or were overrepresented in other food patches. Our results give evidence that resource partitioning within this species occurs peacefully; however, further studies are necessary to determine if threatening behavior or aggressions appear when resources are scarce and competition becomes harsher.
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Affiliation(s)
- D Sánchez
- El Colegio de la Frontera Sur, Carretera Antiguo Aeropuerto km 2.5, Tapachula, Chiapas,, C.P. 30700, Mexico.
| | - E Solórzano-Gordillo
- El Colegio de la Frontera Sur, Carretera Antiguo Aeropuerto km 2.5, Tapachula, Chiapas,, C.P. 30700, Mexico
| | - R Vandame
- El Colegio de la Frontera Sur, Carretera Antiguo Aeropuerto km 2.5, Tapachula, Chiapas,, C.P. 30700, Mexico
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5
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Leonhardt SD, Menzel F, Nehring V, Schmitt T. Ecology and Evolution of Communication in Social Insects. Cell 2016; 164:1277-1287. [PMID: 26967293 DOI: 10.1016/j.cell.2016.01.035] [Citation(s) in RCA: 186] [Impact Index Per Article: 23.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/20/2015] [Indexed: 01/06/2023]
Abstract
Insect life strategies comprise all levels of sociality from solitary to eusocial, in which individuals form persistent groups and divide labor. With increasing social complexity, the need to communicate a greater diversity of messages arose to coordinate division of labor, group cohesion, and concerted actions. Here we summarize the knowledge on prominent messages in social insects that inform about reproduction, group membership, resource locations, and threats and discuss potential evolutionary trajectories of each message in the context of social complexity.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sara Diana Leonhardt
- Department of Animal Ecology and Tropical Biology, University of Würzburg, 97074 Würzburg, Germany
| | - Florian Menzel
- Evolutionary Biology, Institute of Zoology, University of Mainz, 55128 Mainz, Germany
| | - Volker Nehring
- Department of Evolutionary Biology and Animal Ecology, University of Freiburg, 79104 Freiburg, Germany
| | - Thomas Schmitt
- Department of Animal Ecology and Tropical Biology, University of Würzburg, 97074 Würzburg, Germany.
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6
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Lihoreau M, Rivault C, van Zweden JS. Kin discrimination increases with odor distance in the German cockroach. Behav Ecol 2016. [DOI: 10.1093/beheco/arw099] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
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7
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Torres CW, Tsutsui ND. The Effect of Social Parasitism by Polyergus breviceps on the Nestmate Recognition System of Its Host, Formica altipetens. PLoS One 2016; 11:e0147498. [PMID: 26840394 PMCID: PMC4740506 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0147498] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/12/2015] [Accepted: 01/04/2016] [Indexed: 11/30/2022] Open
Abstract
Highly social ants, bees and wasps employ sophisticated recognition systems to identify colony members and deny foreign individuals access to their nest. For ants, cuticular hydrocarbons serve as the labels used to ascertain nest membership. Social parasites, however, are capable of breaking the recognition code so that they can thrive unopposed within the colonies of their hosts. Here we examine the influence of the socially parasitic slave-making ant, Polyergus breviceps on the nestmate recognition system of its slaves, Formica altipetens. We compared the chemical, genetic, and behavioral characteristics of colonies of enslaved and free-living F. altipetens. We found that enslaved Formica colonies were more genetically and chemically diverse than their free-living counterparts. These differences are likely caused by the hallmark of slave-making ant ecology: seasonal raids in which pupa are stolen from several adjacent host colonies. The different social environments of enslaved and free-living Formica appear to affect their recognition behaviors: enslaved Formica workers were less aggressive towards non-nestmates than were free-living Formica. Our findings indicate that parasitism by P. breviceps dramatically alters both the chemical and genetic context in which their kidnapped hosts develop, leading to changes in how they recognize nestmates.
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Affiliation(s)
- Candice W. Torres
- Department of Environmental Science, Policy, and Management, University of California, Berkeley, California, United States of America
- * E-mail:
| | - Neil D. Tsutsui
- Department of Environmental Science, Policy, and Management, University of California, Berkeley, California, United States of America
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8
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Dosmann A, Bahet N, Gordon DM. Experimental modulation of external microbiome affects nestmate recognition in harvester ants (Pogonomyrmex barbatus). PeerJ 2016; 4:e1566. [PMID: 26855857 PMCID: PMC4741111 DOI: 10.7717/peerj.1566] [Citation(s) in RCA: 22] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/29/2015] [Accepted: 12/15/2015] [Indexed: 12/17/2022] Open
Abstract
Social insects use odors as cues for a variety of behavioral responses, including nestmate recognition. Past research on nestmate recognition indicates cuticular hydrocarbons are important nestmate discriminators for social insects, but other factors are likely to contribute to colony-specific odors. Here we experimentally tested whether external microbes contribute to nestmate recognition in red harvester ants (Pogonomyrmex barbatus). We changed the external microbiome of ants through topical application of either antibiotics or microbial cultures. We then observed behavior of nestmates when treated ants were returned to the nest. Ants whose external microbiome was augmented with microbial cultures were much more likely to be rejected than controls, but ants treated with antibiotics were not. This result is consistent with the possibility that external microbes are used for nestmate recognition.
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Affiliation(s)
- Andy Dosmann
- Department of Natural Sciences, Minerva Schools at Keck Graduate Institute , San Francisco, CA , United States
| | - Nassim Bahet
- Stanford Online High School, Stanford, CA, United States; Department of Biology, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, United States
| | - Deborah M Gordon
- Department of Biology, Stanford University , Stanford, CA , United States
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9
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Pradella D, Martin SJ, Dani FR. Using Errors by Guard Honeybees (Apis mellifera) to Gain New Insights into Nestmate Recognition Signals. Chem Senses 2015; 40:649-53. [DOI: 10.1093/chemse/bjv053] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
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10
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Esponda F, Gordon DM. Distributed nestmate recognition in ants. Proc Biol Sci 2015; 282:20142838. [PMID: 25833853 PMCID: PMC4426612 DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2014.2838] [Citation(s) in RCA: 34] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/18/2014] [Accepted: 03/05/2015] [Indexed: 11/12/2022] Open
Abstract
We propose a distributed model of nestmate recognition, analogous to the one used by the vertebrate immune system, in which colony response results from the diverse reactions of many ants. The model describes how individual behaviour produces colony response to non-nestmates. No single ant knows the odour identity of the colony. Instead, colony identity is defined collectively by all the ants in the colony. Each ant responds to the odour of other ants by reference to its own unique decision boundary, which is a result of its experience of encounters with other ants. Each ant thus recognizes a particular set of chemical profiles as being those of non-nestmates. This model predicts, as experimental results have shown, that the outcome of behavioural assays is likely to be variable, that it depends on the number of ants tested, that response to non-nestmates changes over time and that it changes in response to the experience of individual ants. A distributed system allows a colony to identify non-nestmates without requiring that all individuals have the same complete information and helps to facilitate the tracking of changes in cuticular hydrocarbon profiles, because only a subset of ants must respond to provide an adequate response.
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Affiliation(s)
- Fernando Esponda
- Department of Computer Science, Instituto Tecnológico Autónomo de México, México D.F. 01080, Mexico
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11
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Kather R, Drijfhout FP, Martin SJ. Evidence for colony-specific differences in chemical mimicry in the parasitic mite Varroa destructor. CHEMOECOLOGY 2015. [DOI: 10.1007/s00049-015-0191-8] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/24/2022]
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12
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13
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Couvillon MJ, Segers FHID, Cooper-Bowman R, Truslove G, Nascimento DL, Nascimento FS, Ratnieks FLW. Context affects nestmate recognition errors in honey bees and stingless bees. ACTA ACUST UNITED AC 2013; 216:3055-61. [PMID: 23619413 DOI: 10.1242/jeb.085324] [Citation(s) in RCA: 20] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/20/2022]
Abstract
Nestmate recognition studies, where a discriminator first recognises and then behaviourally discriminates (accepts/rejects) another individual, have used a variety of methodologies and contexts. This is potentially problematic because recognition errors in discrimination behaviour are predicted to be context-dependent. Here we compare the recognition decisions (accept/reject) of discriminators in two eusocial bees, Apis mellifera and Tetragonisca angustula, under different contexts. These contexts include natural guards at the hive entrance (control); natural guards held in plastic test arenas away from the hive entrance that vary either in the presence or absence of colony odour or the presence or absence of an additional nestmate discriminator; and, for the honey bee, the inside of the nest. For both honey bee and stingless bee guards, total recognition errors of behavioural discrimination made by guards (% nestmates rejected + % non-nestmates accepted) are much lower at the colony entrance (honey bee: 30.9%; stingless bee: 33.3%) than in the test arenas (honey bee: 60-86%; stingless bee: 61-81%; P<0.001 for both). Within the test arenas, the presence of colony odour specifically reduced the total recognition errors in honey bees, although this reduction still fell short of bringing error levels down to what was found at the colony entrance. Lastly, in honey bees, the data show that the in-nest collective behavioural discrimination by ca. 30 workers that contact an intruder is insufficient to achieve error-free recognition and is not as effective as the discrimination by guards at the entrance. Overall, these data demonstrate that context is a significant factor in a discriminators' ability to make appropriate recognition decisions, and should be considered when designing recognition study methodologies.
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Affiliation(s)
- Margaret J Couvillon
- Laboratory of Apiculture and Social Insects, School of Life Sciences, University of Sussex, Falmer, Brighton, UK.
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14
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Emery VJ, Tsutsui ND. Recognition in a social symbiosis: chemical phenotypes and nestmate recognition behaviors of neotropical parabiotic ants. PLoS One 2013; 8:e56492. [PMID: 23451053 PMCID: PMC3579830 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0056492] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/27/2012] [Accepted: 01/10/2013] [Indexed: 11/18/2022] Open
Abstract
Social organisms rank among the most abundant and ecologically dominant species on Earth, in part due to exclusive recognition systems that allow cooperators to be distinguished from exploiters. Exploiters, such as social parasites, manipulate their hosts' recognition systems, whereas cooperators are expected to minimize interference with their partner's recognition abilities. Despite our wealth of knowledge about recognition in single-species social nests, less is known of the recognition systems in multi-species nests, particularly involving cooperators. One uncommon type of nesting symbiosis, called parabiosis, involves two species of ants sharing a nest and foraging trails in ostensible cooperation. Here, we investigated recognition cues (cuticular hydrocarbons) and recognition behaviors in the parabiotic mixed-species ant nests of Camponotus femoratus and Crematogaster levior in North-Eastern Amazonia. We found two sympatric, cryptic Cr. levior chemotypes in the population, with one type in each parabiotic colony. Although they share a nest, very few hydrocarbons were shared between Ca. femoratus and either Cr. levior chemotype. The Ca. femoratus hydrocarbons were also unusually long-chained branched alkenes and dienes, compounds not commonly found amongst ants. Despite minimal overlap in hydrocarbon profile, there was evidence of potential interspecific nestmate recognition -Cr. levior ants were more aggressive toward Ca. femoratus non-nestmates than Ca. femoratus nestmates. In contrast to the prediction that sharing a nest could weaken conspecific recognition, each parabiotic species also maintains its own aggressive recognition behaviors to exclude conspecific non-nestmates. This suggests that, despite cohabitation, parabiotic ants maintain their own species-specific colony odors and recognition mechanisms. It is possible that such social symbioses are enabled by the two species each using their own separate recognition cues, and that interspecific nestmate recognition may enable this multi-species cooperative nesting.
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Affiliation(s)
- Virginia J Emery
- Department of Environmental Science, Policy and Management, University of California, Berkeley, California, United States of America.
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15
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Sturgis SJ, Gordon DM. Aggression is task dependent in the red harvester ant (Pogonomyrmex barbatus). Behav Ecol 2012. [DOI: 10.1093/beheco/ars194] [Citation(s) in RCA: 17] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
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16
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Nascimento DL, Nascimento FS. Acceptance threshold hypothesis is supported by chemical similarity of cuticular hydrocarbons in a stingless bee, Melipona asilvai. J Chem Ecol 2012; 38:1432-40. [PMID: 23053920 DOI: 10.1007/s10886-012-0194-7] [Citation(s) in RCA: 14] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/19/2012] [Revised: 08/21/2012] [Accepted: 09/08/2012] [Indexed: 11/25/2022]
Abstract
The ability to discriminate nestmates from non-nestmates in insect societies is essential to protect colonies from conspecific invaders. The acceptance threshold hypothesis predicts that organisms whose recognition systems classify recipients without errors should optimize the balance between acceptance and rejection. In this process, cuticular hydrocarbons play an important role as cues of recognition in social insects. The aims of this study were to determine whether guards exhibit a restrictive level of rejection towards chemically distinct individuals, becoming more permissive during the encounters with either nestmate or non-nestmate individuals bearing chemically similar profiles. The study demonstrates that Melipona asilvai (Hymenoptera: Apidae: Meliponini) guards exhibit a flexible system of nestmate recognition according to the degree of chemical similarity between the incoming forager and its own cuticular hydrocarbons profile. Guards became less restrictive in their acceptance rates when they encounter non-nestmates with highly similar chemical profiles, which they probably mistake for nestmates, hence broadening their acceptance level.
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Affiliation(s)
- D L Nascimento
- Departamento de Biologia, Universidade de São Paulo, FFCLRP, Av. Bandeirantes 3900, 14040-901, Ribeirão Preto, São Paulo, Brazil
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Couvillon MJ, van Zweden JS, Ratnieks FLW. Model of collective decision-making in nestmate recognition fails to account for individual discriminator responses and non-independent discriminator errors. Behav Ecol Sociobiol 2011. [DOI: 10.1007/s00265-011-1298-8] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
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18
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Johnson BR, van Wilgenburg E, Tsutsui ND. Nestmate recognition in social insects is sometimes more complex than an individual based decision to accept or reject. Behav Ecol Sociobiol 2011. [DOI: 10.1007/s00265-011-1299-7] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/14/2022]
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19
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Martin SJ, Vitikainen E, Drijfhout FP, Jackson D. Conspecific ant aggression is correlated with chemical distance, but not with genetic or spatial distance. Behav Genet 2011; 42:323-31. [PMID: 21928047 DOI: 10.1007/s10519-011-9503-0] [Citation(s) in RCA: 30] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/21/2011] [Accepted: 09/08/2011] [Indexed: 10/17/2022]
Abstract
Five possible mechanisms might underlie kin recognition in social groups: spatial location, familiarity through prior association, phenotype matching, recognition alleles, or rejecting unfamiliar cues. Kin recognition by phenotype matching relies on a strong correlation between genotype and phenotype. Aggression bioassays are the standard method for investigating recognition in animals, particularly social insect interactions among nestmates and non-nestmates. These bioassays typically pay little regard to how outcomes are determined by differences in chemical recognition cues of the test subjects, because the system of signal coding was unknown until recently. We exploited the known nestmate recognition system of the ant Formica exsecta to investigate aggression between 24 pairs of colonies across a range of chemical (Z9-alkene & n-alkanes), genetic, and spatial distances. The whole Z9-alkene chemical profile was the only significant (p < 0.001) predictor of aggression levels. Aggression was a nonlinear step function of Z9-alkene chemical distance, where a small change in chemical profile resulted in a rapid behavioural transition from non-aggression to overt aggression. These findings raise questions surrounding our current understanding of recognition systems, because they support phenotype matching to a colony chemical profile without a significant genetic or spatial component.
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Affiliation(s)
- Stephen J Martin
- Department of Animal & Plant Sciences, University of Sheffield, Sheffield, UK.
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Ratnieks FLW, Kärcher MH, Firth V, Parks D, Richards A, Richards P, Helanterä H. Acceptance by Honey Bee Guards of Non-Nestmates is not Increased by Treatment with Nestmate Odours. Ethology 2011. [DOI: 10.1111/j.1439-0310.2011.01918.x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/27/2022]
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