Ant Behavior and Microbial Pathogens (Hymenoptera: Formicidae)

Oi, David H.; Pereira, Roberto M.

doi:10.2307/3496014

Cited by 97 publications

(86 citation statements)

References 29 publications

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“…Social insects use diverse methods to prevent and combat disease agents, such as grooming or other hygienic behaviours and the use of antimicrobial compounds from glandular secretions or external sources (e.g. bacteria; Oi & Pereira 1993;Currie et al 1999a;Mueller et al 2005). The evolution of larger colony sizes places greater demands on 'public health' adaptations (e.g.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Reduced biological control and enhanced chemical pest management in the evolution of fungus farming in ants

et al. 2009

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To combat disease, most fungus-growing ants (Attini) use antibiotics from mutualistic bacteria (Pseudonocardia) that are cultured on the ants' exoskeletons and chemical cocktails from exocrine glands, especially the metapleural glands (MG). Previous work has hypothesized that (i) Pseudonocardia antibiotics are narrow-spectrum and control a fungus (Escovopsis) that parasitizes the ants' fungal symbiont, and (ii) MG secretions have broad-spectrum activity and protect ants and brood. We assessed the relative importance of these lines of defence, and their activity spectra, by scoring abundance of visible Pseudonocardia for nine species from five genera and measuring rates of MG grooming after challenging ants with disease agents of differing virulence. Atta and Sericomyrmex have lost or greatly reduced the abundance of visible bacteria. When challenged with diverse disease agents, including Escovopsis, they significantly increased MG grooming rates and expanded the range of targets. By contrast, species of Acromyrmex and Trachymyrmex maintain abundant Pseudonocardia. When challenged, these species had lower MG grooming rates, targeted primarily to brood. More elaborate MG defences and reduced reliance on mutualistic Pseudonocardia are correlated with larger colony size among attine genera, raising questions about the efficacy of managing disease in large societies with chemical cocktails versus bacterial antimicrobial metabolites.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Reduced biological control and enhanced chemical pest management in the evolution of fungus farming in ants

et al. 2009

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“…Previous work has shown that different ant-fungal interactions can influence the behaviour of hosts in several ways (e.g., increased grooming and nest cleaning, secretion of antibiotics, pathogen avoidance, dispersal of infected individuals, and the relocation of an entire colony) (e.g., Csata et al 2014, Roy et al 2006, Oi and Pereira 1993. Laboulbeniales fungi are often present on the ant body with high thallus densities and the results of recent studies suggest that they could have both positive and negative effects on their hosts and are able to influence their behaviour (Báthori et al 2015a, Csata et al 2014, Konrad et al 2015, Pech and Heneberg 2015.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The effect of Rickia wasmannii (Ascomycota, Laboulbeniales) on the aggression and boldness of Myrmica scabrinodis (Hymenoptera, Formicidae)

Báthori¹,

Rádai²,

Tartally³

2017

JHR

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The interactions of ectosymbiotic Laboulbeniales (Ascomycota) fungi and their hosts are rather understudied. Rickia wasmannii Cavara is a common ant-associated Laboulbeniales species that has been reported in 17 countries of Europe, and frequently infects Myrmica scabrinodis Nylander, 1846 (Hymenoptera: Formicidae), a common ant species host, in high density. These make M. scabrinodis and R. wasmannii appropriate model organisms for studies on fungal host-ectosymbiont interactions. Aggressiveness and boldness of infected and uninfected M. scabrinodis workers from northern and eastern Hungary were studied in two laboratory-established behavioural experiments. Infected workers were significantly less aggressive and less bold (i.e. less likely to leave nest shelters) than the uninfected ones. These results suggest that R. wasmannii has considerable effects on the behaviour of M. scabrinodis. Our study brings an evidence that infection of ants with Laboulbeniales might negatively affect the workers' behaviour. In special, the competitive abilities might be affected most by these fungi, since remaining inside and behaving submissively is not effective behaviour in the case of significant competition for resources among colonies.

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“…Ants and other social insects perform trophallaxis and allogrooming to transfer food among nestmates (Wheeler, 1918;Wilson, 1971;Hölldobler and Wilson, 1999), eliminate pathogens and parasites for colonial sanitation (Oi and Pereira, 1993;Currie et al, 1999;Fernández-Marín et al, 2009) and exchange cuticular hydrocarbons (CHCs) to maintain nestmate recognition (Hölldobler and Wilson, 1999;Greene, 2010;Liebig, 2010;Van Zweden and d'Ettore, 2010). Nestmate recognition is a cognitive process whereby a worker accepts or rejects the encountered conspecifics after detecting CHCs on the body surface by antennal sensory organs (Ozaki et al, 2005;Ozaki and Wada-Katsumata, 2010).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Social interactions influence dopamine and octopamine homeostasis in the brain of the ant Formica japonica

Wada‐Katsumata

Yamaoka

Aonuma

2011

Journal of Experimental Biology

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SUMMARYIn ants, including Formica japonica, trophallaxis and grooming are typical social behaviors shared among nestmates. After depriving ants of either food or nestmates and then providing them with either food or nestmates, a behavioral change in type and frequency of social interactions was observed. We hypothesized that starvation and isolation affected levels of brain biogenic amines including dopamine (DA) and octopamine (OA) -neuromediators modifying various insect behaviors -and tested the relationship between brain biogenic amines and social behaviors of stressed ants. Ants starved for 7days contained lower brain DA levels and they did not perform trophallaxis toward nestmates. Feeding starved ants sucrose solution re-established trophallaxis but not brain DA levels. The performance of trophallaxis induced recovery of brain DA content to the level of untreated ants. Ants that were isolated for 2days displayed markedly increased OA levels, which following nestmate interactions, returned to levels similar to those of control (non-isolated) ants and ants isolated for 1h. We conclude that: (1) starvation reduced brain DA level but had no significant effect on brain OA (trophallaxis recovered the brain DA levels), and (2) isolation increased brain OA level but had no effect on brain DA (trophallaxis and grooming events recovered the brain OA levels). We suggest that social interactions with nestmates influenced brain biogenic amine homeostasis in stressed F. japonica.

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Ant Behavior and Microbial Pathogens (Hymenoptera: Formicidae)

Cited by 97 publications

References 29 publications

Reduced biological control and enhanced chemical pest management in the evolution of fungus farming in ants

Reduced biological control and enhanced chemical pest management in the evolution of fungus farming in ants

The effect of Rickia wasmannii (Ascomycota, Laboulbeniales) on the aggression and boldness of Myrmica scabrinodis (Hymenoptera, Formicidae)

Social interactions influence dopamine and octopamine homeostasis in the brain of the ant Formica japonica

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