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The effects of disturbance threat on leaf-cutting ant colonies: a laboratory study
Version 2 2023-06-13, 14:46
Version 1 2023-06-09, 02:46
journal contribution
posted on 2023-06-13, 14:46 authored by V C Norman, T Pamminger, William HughesWilliam HughesThe flexibility of organisms to respond plastically to their environment is fundamental to their fitness and evolutionary success. Social insects provide some of the most impressive examples of plasticity, with individuals exhibiting behavioural and sometimes morphological adaptations for their specific roles in the colony, such as large soldiers for nest defence. However, with the exception of the honey bee model organism, there has been little investigation of the nature and effects of environmental stimuli thought to instigate alternative phenotypes in social insects. Here we investigate the effect of repeated threat disturbance over a prolonged (17 month) period on both behavioural and morphological phenotypes, using phenotypically plastic leaf-cutting ants (Atta colombica) as a model system. We found a rapid impact of threat disturbance on the behavioural phenotype of individuals within threat-disturbed colonies becoming more aggressive, threat-responsive and phototactic within as little as two weeks. We found no effect of threat disturbance on morphological phenotypes, potentially because constraints such as resource limitation outweighed the benefit for colonies of producing larger individuals. The results suggest that plasticity in behavioural phenotypes can enable insect societies to respond to threats even when constraints prevent alteration of morphological phenotypes.
Funding
DTA - Determining the environmental and genetic basis of phenotypic plasiticity in leaf-cutting ants; G1011; BBSRC-BIOTECHNOLOGY & BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES RESEARCH COUNCIL; BB/J011339/1
History
Publication status
- Published
File Version
- Published version
Journal
Insectes SociauxISSN
0020-1812Publisher
Springer VerlagExternal DOI
Issue
1Volume
64Page range
75-85Department affiliated with
- Biology and Environmental Science Publications
Full text available
- Yes
Peer reviewed?
- Yes
Legacy Posted Date
2016-09-07First Open Access (FOA) Date
2017-01-04First Compliant Deposit (FCD) Date
2016-09-07Usage metrics
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