Nestmate recognition in social insects is sometimes more complex than an individual based decision to accept or reject

Johnson, Brian R.; Wilgenburg, Ellen van; Tsutsui, Neil D.

doi:10.1007/s00265-011-1299-7

Cited by 3 publications

(1 citation statement)

References 8 publications

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“…Therefore, even though rejection of non-nestmates was greater over 3min compared with the initial contact, it remains ineffectual. Previous modelling work has predicted that, inside the hive, near-perfect recognition could be achieved through the collective process of multiple contacts between an introduced bee and that colony's worker bees (Johnson et al, 2011;Johnson et al, 2012). The model suggested that even if per-encounter (initial) rejection rate of a non-nestmate is 20%, then after just 21 encounters, the overall probability of acceptance of the nonnestmate should be <1% (Johnson et al, 2011).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Context affects nestmate recognition errors in honey bees and stingless bees

Couvillon

Segers

Cooper-Bowman

et al. 2013

Journal of Experimental Biology

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SUMMARYNestmate 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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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Context affects nestmate recognition errors in honey bees and stingless bees

Couvillon

Segers

Cooper-Bowman

et al. 2013

Journal of Experimental Biology

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Collective decision-making during reproduction in social insects: a conceptual model for queen supersedure in honey bees (Apis mellifera)

Tarpy

2024

Current Opinion in Insect Science

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Nestmate Recognition in the Amazonian Myrmecophyte Ant Pseudomyrmex concolor Smith (Hymenoptera, Formicidae)

Del‐Claro

2015

Sociobiology

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Nestmate recognition is fundamental to colonial cohesion in social insects, since it allows altruistic behavior towards relatives, recognition of intruders, territorial monopoly and resources defense. In ants, olfactory cues is a key factor in this process. Pseudomyrmex concolor is a highly aggressive ant that defends their host plant Tachigali myrmecophila against herbivores. However, this defense depends on the ant ability to discriminate in order to treat differentially between members of their own colony and intruders . In this study we investigated "whether" and "how" P. concolor recognizes nestmates from non-nestmates. We hypothesized that P. concolor is skillful in recognizing nestmates and tested it in field with experiments using nestmates and non-nestmates. Additionally, to test the efficiency of resident ants against intraspecific competition during colony foundation, we simulate the plant occupation by a competitor queen, introducing nonnestmates queens in plants previously occupied by P. concolor. For the issue of the "how", we hypothesized that the main cue used by this ant in nestmate recognition is olfactory signal. Thus, we tested adaptive threshold model, which predicts that, if the individual odor and colony's internal template are discrepant enough, the resident nestmate will behave aggressively towards incoming individuals. In this case, we confined nestmates with non-nestmates odors, and then, we reintroduced them in its host plants. In each experiment the frequency of aggressive behaviors were recorded and compared. Results showed that P. concolor recognize and discriminate nestmates from non-nestmates workers (biting and stinging them) and exclude potential competitors queens. Workers reintroduced in their own colony after impregnated with non-familiar odor were treated as non-nestmates. The adaptive threshold hypothesis was confirmed, the main cue used by this ant species in nestmate recognition is olfactory signals.

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Nestmate recognition in social insects is sometimes more complex than an individual based decision to accept or reject

Cited by 3 publications

References 8 publications

Context affects nestmate recognition errors in honey bees and stingless bees

Context affects nestmate recognition errors in honey bees and stingless bees

Collective decision-making during reproduction in social insects: a conceptual model for queen supersedure in honey bees (Apis mellifera)

Nestmate Recognition in the Amazonian Myrmecophyte Ant Pseudomyrmex concolor Smith (Hymenoptera, Formicidae)

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