Queen presence mediates the relationship between collective behaviour and disease susceptibility in ant colonies

The Journal of Animal Ecology
Carl N KeiserJulia B Saltz

Abstract

The success of social living can be explained, in part, by a group's ability to execute collective behaviours unachievable by solitary individuals. However, groups vary in their ability to execute these complex behaviours, often because they vary in their phenotypic composition. Group membership changes over time due to mortality or emigration, potentially leaving groups vulnerable to ecological challenges in times of flux. In some societies, the loss of important individuals (e.g. leaders, elites and queens) may have an especially detrimental effect on groups' ability to deal with these challenges. Here, we test whether the removal of queens in colonies of the acorn ant Temnothorax curvispinosus alters their ability to execute important collective behaviours and survive outbreaks of a generalist entomopathogen. We employed a split-colony design where one half of a colony was maintained with its queen, while the other half was separated from the queen. We then tested these subcolonies' performance in a series of collective behaviour assays and finally exposed colonies to the entomopathogenic fungus Metarhizium robertsii by exposing two individuals from the colony and then sealing them back into the nest. We found that queenrigh...Continue Reading

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Citations

Nov 15, 2019·Behavioral Ecology : Official Journal of the International Society for Behavioral Ecology·Grant Navid DoeringJonathan N Pruitt
Feb 15, 2018·The Journal of Animal Ecology·Bethany J Hoye, Andy Fenton
Jan 7, 2021·Proceedings. Biological Sciences·Angelos MouratidisAlejandro Tena
Mar 13, 2021·Behavioral Ecology : Official Journal of the International Society for Behavioral Ecology·István MaákMagdalena Witek

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