Social regulation of behavioral development in the ant, Novomessor albisetosus (Mayr).

McDonald, Philip M.; Topoff, Howard

doi:10.1037/0735-7036.99.1.3

Cited by 48 publications

(26 citation statements)

References 16 publications

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“…The ability of ant foragers to revert to nursing behaviour was reported already by Ehrhardt (1931) and then confirmed subsequently in other studies (Dobrzańska, 1959; Lenoir, 1979; Sorensen et al , 1984; McDonald & Topoff, 1985; Hölldobler & Wilson, 2009; Robinson, 2009), although physiological correlates of that process are so far little known. However, the fact that induction of brood care in ant foragers may occur very rapidly, within 24 h, argues against exocrine control of that process, and suggests that ant and honeybee behavioural reversion may represent fundamentally different phenomena (Lenoir, 1979; Sorensen et al , 1984; McDonald & Topoff, 1985). Recent research demonstrates that the ability of older ant workers to perform tasks usually associated with an earlier developmental stage may not necessarily represent true reversion of behavioural ontogeny.…”

Section: Introductionsupporting

confidence: 65%

Effect of past and present behavioural specialization on brain levels of biogenic amines in workers of the red wood ant Formica polyctena

Wnuk

Wiater

Godzińska

2010

Physiological Entomology

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Social insect workers usually participate first in intranidal tasks (i.e. act as nurses within the nest) and then switch to extranidal tasks and become foragers. However, foragers sometimes switch back again to brood care and become reverted nurses. Behavioural and physiological correlates of the transition nurse-forager (behavioural maturation) and forager-reverted nurse (behavioural reversion) are relatively well known in the honeybee, although they are less explored in ants. To understand better the role of biogenic amines in ant behavioural maturation and behavioural reversion, the levels of octopamine (OA), dopamine (DA) and serotonin (5-HT) are examined in the brains of nurses, foragers and reverted nurses of the red wood ant Formica polyctena Först. (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). Brain OA levels and the ratios OA : DA and OA : 5-HT are higher in nurses than in foragers and reverted nurses. Reverted nurses and foragers do not differ significantly with respect to brain biogenic amine levels and amine ratios. Biogenic amine levels in brains of workers of F. polyctena are thus maturation-related rather than task-related. This is one of the first studies of neurochemical correlates of ant behavioural maturation and the first attempt to identify neurobiological correlates of ant behavioural reversion. The data obtained provide further evidence that neurobiological processes underlying honeybee and ant behavioural maturation and behavioural reversion reveal important differences.

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Section: Introductionsupporting

confidence: 65%

Effect of past and present behavioural specialization on brain levels of biogenic amines in workers of the red wood ant Formica polyctena

Wnuk

Wiater

Godzińska

2010

Physiological Entomology

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“…We suspect that it is not so much the absolute age of an individual but its age relative to other colony members that influences its ability to become a queen. This is reminiscent of the well-known role of relative age in work organization based on age polyethism in bees (37)(38)(39) and ants (40)(41)(42) and, indeed, even in R. marginata (43) and is supported by the fact that social insects appear to have mechanisms for assessing the relative ages of each other (43)(44)(45)(46). However, it is also important to realize that age is not a perfect predictor of the position of an individual in the reproductive queue.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Reproductive queue without overt conflict in the primitively eusocial wasp Ropalidia marginata

Bang

Gadagkar

2012

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

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Colonies of the primitively eusocial wasp Ropalidia marginata consist of a single egg layer (queen) and a number of non-egg-laying workers. Although the queen is a docile individual, not at the top of the behavioral dominance hierarchy of the colony, she maintains complete reproductive monopoly. If the queen is lost or removed, one and only one of the workers [potential queen (PQ)] becomes hyperaggressive and will become the next queen of the colony. The PQ is almost never challenged because she first becomes hyperaggressive and then gradually loses her aggression, develops her ovaries, and starts laying eggs. Although we are unable to identify the PQ when the queen is present, she appears to be a "cryptic heir designate." Here, we show that there is not just one heir designate but a long reproductive queue and that PQs take over the role of egg-laying, successively, without overt conflict, as the queen or previous PQs are removed. The dominance rank of an individual is not a significant predictor of its position in the succession hierarchy. The age of an individual is a significant predictor, but it is not a perfect predictor because PQs often bypass older individuals to become successors. We suggest that such a predesignated reproductive queue that is implemented without overt conflict is adaptive in the tropics, where conspecific usurpers from outside the colony, which can take advantage of the anarchy prevailing in a queenless colony and invade it, are likely to be present throughout the year.reproductive conflict | reproductive succession | eusociality | cooperative breeding | insect societies R eproductive division of labor is the hallmark of insect societies. This is achieved by the differentiation of colony members into reproductive (queen/king) and nonreproductive (worker) castes (1, 2). In insect societies such as those of ants, honeybees, swarm-founding wasps, and higher termites, which are traditionally referred to as highly eusocial, caste determination is achieved by preimaginal physiological processes that channel individuals into distinct reproductive or worker developmental pathways. Thus, caste of an individual is already determined at the time of eclosion and remains irreversible. If the reproductive dies, the colony has to rear a new one from the egg or early larval stage because the workers cannot change their caste in adulthood. In societies such as those of most social bees and wasps, which are traditionally referred to as primitively eusocial, all adult colony members are nearly totipotent and morphologically similar. The process of caste differentiation into reproductives and nonreproductives takes place largely in the adult stage and is based on social interactions among colony members (3-9). This makes the castes flexible and often reversible, so that workers can become queens upon the loss or death of the original queen. In addition to indirect fitness gained as workers, individuals, thus, also have a finite probability of direct reproduction as future queens. Similarly in wood-dwelli...

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“…This spatial hypothesis predicts that ants nearer the entrance should respond to the change in the demand for foraging as they experience the stimulus provided by returning ants (Robinson et al 2009a) and are likely to encounter the nest entrance as they move around. Ants patrolling the inside of the nest should also be likely to respond to the change in demand, as they will be exposed to stimulus from a hungry brood (McDonald & Topoff 1985). When the demand for brood care is increased, the spatial hypothesis predicts that ants nearer the inside of the nest where the new brood is added, or those tending to patrol the inside of the nest, would be more likely to discover the new brood and respond to this stimulus by providing brood care.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Flexible task allocation and the organization of work in ants

2009

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Flexibility in task performance is essential for a robust system of division of labour. We investigated what factors determine which social insect workers respond to colony-level changes in task demand. We used radio-frequency identification technology to compare the roles of corpulence, age, spatial location and previous activity (intra-nest/extra-nest) in determining whether worker ants (Temnothorax albipennis) respond to an increase in demand for foraging or brood care. The less corpulent ants took on the extra foraging, irrespective of their age, previous activity or location in the nest, supporting a physiological threshold model. We found no relationship between ants that tended the extra brood and corpulence, age, spatial location or previous activity, but ants that transported the extra brood to the main brood pile were less corpulent and had high previous intra-nest activity. This supports spatial task-encounter and physiological threshold models for brood transport. Our data suggest a flexible task-allocation system allowing the colony to respond rapidly to changing needs, using a simple task-encounter system for generalized tasks, combined with physiologically based response thresholds for more specialized tasks. This could provide a social insect colony with a robust division of labour, flexibly allocating the workforce in response to current needs.

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Social regulation of behavioral development in the ant, Novomessor albisetosus (Mayr).

Cited by 48 publications

References 16 publications

Effect of past and present behavioural specialization on brain levels of biogenic amines in workers of the red wood ant Formica polyctena

Effect of past and present behavioural specialization on brain levels of biogenic amines in workers of the red wood ant Formica polyctena

Reproductive queue without overt conflict in the primitively eusocial wasp Ropalidia marginata

Flexible task allocation and the organization of work in ants

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