Dominance hierarchy limits resilience in the endangered queenless ant Dinoponera lucida

IF 1.4 3区 农林科学 Q2 ENTOMOLOGY
M. E. Lima Vieira, D. H. Tavares, T. R. B. Muniz, N. Châline
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Abstract

Division of labour is an important factor of social insect ecological success. However, the specific mechanisms associated with division of labour differ widely between species. Often, social groups have to cope with severe perturbations and resume normal functioning as quickly as possible. How well they do so depends on the behavioural mechanisms involved and on species life-history traits. Here, we studied the division of labour in D. lucida, a threatened species of native Brazilian queenless ants with small colony sizes, to assess whether colonies facing a drastic perturbation of the established task allocation are resilient, and through which potential mechanisms. We first separated the colonies into two sub-colonies, one with the foragers and the other with the nurses. As this is an important modification of colony structure, we expected workers to respond quickly by switching tasks. Our experiment showed that, contrary to our hypotheses, workers showed little plasticity in switching tasks, and colonies did show very limited resilience. Foragers, when isolated from nurses, show a certain plasticity in their behavioural repertoire, performing both tasks (foraging and nursing). However, groups of nurses facing the absence of foragers kept almost exclusively to nursing tasks. Only a few performed episodic outside activities. When workers were returned to their original colonies, foragers switched back to foraging. However, the effect of the manipulation could still be observed 20 days after reintroduction, with workers showing lower general activity, ingesting larvae and reproductive workers losing their dominance. Considering our current knowledge about the regulation of both division of labour and reproductive hierarchies in Dinoponera and other ponerine ants, we propose that this lack of resilience is due to the reproductive conflict between nurses, which delays behavioural maturation and reduces motivation to engage in outside tasks. The existence of individual strategies thus imposes severe costs on group functioning. This could be an additional issue when considering the conservation of this endangered species.

Abstract Image

优势等级限制了濒危无后蚁 Dinoponera lucida 的恢复能力
分工是社会昆虫生态成功的一个重要因素。然而,与分工相关的具体机制在不同物种之间存在很大差异。通常,社会群体必须应对严重的干扰,并尽快恢复正常功能。它们能做得多好,取决于所涉及的行为机制和物种的生命史特征。在这里,我们研究了无后蚁D. lucida(一种濒临灭绝的巴西本土小蚁种)的分工情况,以评估面临既定任务分配剧烈干扰的蚁群是否具有复原能力,以及通过哪些潜在机制复原。我们首先将蚁群分为两个子蚁群,一个是觅食蚁群,另一个是哺乳蚁群。由于这是对蚁群结构的一次重要调整,我们希望工蚁能通过转换任务迅速做出反应。实验结果表明,与我们的假设相反,工蜂在转换任务时几乎没有表现出可塑性,而蜂群确实表现出了非常有限的恢复能力。当觅食者与哺乳者隔离时,它们的行为会表现出一定的可塑性,同时执行两种任务(觅食和哺乳)。然而,在没有觅食者的情况下,哺乳动物群体几乎只从事哺乳任务。只有少数哺乳动物会偶尔外出活动。当工蚁返回原来的蚁群时,觅食者又重新开始觅食。然而,在重新引入后 20 天,仍能观察到操纵的影响,工蚁的总体活动量降低,摄食幼虫,生殖工蚁失去了优势地位。考虑到我们目前对 Dinoponera 和其他 ponerine 蚂蚁的分工和生殖等级调节的了解,我们认为这种缺乏恢复力的现象是由于哺育者之间的生殖冲突造成的,这种冲突延迟了行为的成熟,降低了参与外部任务的积极性。因此,个体策略的存在给群体功能带来了严重的代价。在考虑保护这一濒危物种时,这可能是一个额外的问题。
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来源期刊
Insectes Sociaux
Insectes Sociaux 生物-昆虫学
CiteScore
2.70
自引率
7.70%
发文量
43
审稿时长
6-12 weeks
期刊介绍: Insectes Sociaux (IS) is the journal of the International Union for the Study of Social Insects (IUSSI). It covers the various aspects of the biology and evolution of social insects and other presocial arthropods; these include ecology, ethology, morphology, population genetics, reproduction, communication, sociobiology, caste differentiation and social parasitism. The journal publishes original research papers and reviews, as well as short communications. An international editorial board of eminent specialists attests to the high quality of Insectes Sociaux, a forum for all scientists and readers interested in the study of social insects.
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