| Title: | "Tandem running by foraging Pachycondyla striata workers in field conditions vary in response to food type, food distance, and environmental conditions" |
| Author(s): | Silva JP; Valadares L; Vieira MEL; Teseo S; Chaline N; |
| Address: | "LEEEIS, Departamento de Psicologia Experimental, Instituto de Psicologia Experimental, Universidade de Sao Paulo, Sao Paulo, SP, CEP 05508-030, Brazil. Programa de pos-graduacao em Psicologia Experimental, USP, Sao Paulo, SP, CEP 05508-030, Brazil. Evolution, Genomes, Behavior and Ecology, CNRS, 1 Avenue de la Terrasse, Gif-sur-Yvette 91987, France. LBC, Departamento de Fisiologia e Comportamento, Centro de Biociencias, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Norte, Natal, RN, CEP 59078-970, Brazil. School of Biological Sciences, Nanyang Technological University, 60 Nanyang Drive, Singapore 637551, Singapore" |
| ISSN/ISBN: | 1674-5507 (Print) 2396-9814 (Electronic) 1674-5507 (Linking) |
| Abstract: | "Ants show collective and individual behavioral flexibility in their response to immediate context, choosing for example between different foraging strategies. In Pachycondyla striata, workers can forage solitarily or recruit and guide nestmates to larger food sources through tandem running. Although considered more ancestral and less efficient than pheromone trail-laying, this strategy is common especially in species with small colony size. What is not known is how the decision to recruit or follow varies according to the immediate context. That is, how fine adjustments in information transfer affect immediate foraging decisions at the colony level. Here, we studied individually marked workers and evaluated their foraging decisions when food items varied in nature (protein versus carbohydrate), size, and distance from the nest at different temperatures and humidity levels. Our results show that tandem run leaders and potential followers adjust their behavior according to a combination of external factors. While 84.2% of trips were solitary, most ants (81%) performed at least 1 tandem run. However, tandem runs were more frequent for nearby resources and at higher relative humidity. Interestingly, when food items were located far away, tandem runs were more successful when heading to protein sources (75%) compared with carbohydrate sources (42%). Our results suggest that the social information transfer between leaders and followers conveys more information than previously thought, and also relies on their experience and motivation" |
| Keywords: | Ponerinae collective behavior decision-making emotional states flexibility social learning; |
| Notes: | "PubMed-not-MEDLINESilva, Janiele Pereira Valadares, Lohan Vieira, Maria Eduarda Lima Teseo, Serafino Chaline, Nicolas eng England 2021/10/08 Curr Zool. 2021 Jun 26; 67(5):541-549. doi: 10.1093/cz/zoab050. eCollection 2021 Oct" |
