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Curr Biol

Title:		Ant Foragers Compensate for the Nutritional Deficiencies in the Colony
Author(s):		Csata E; Gautrais J; Bach A; Blanchet J; Ferrante J; Fournier F; Levesque T; Simpson SJ; Dussutour A;
Address:		"Centre de Recherches sur la Cognition Animale (CRCA), Centre de Biologie Integrative (CBI), Universite de Toulouse, CNRS, UPS, 31062 Toulouse, France; Hungarian Department of Biology and Ecology, Babes-Bolyai University, Clinicilor 5-7, 400006 Cluj-Napoca, Romania. Centre de Recherches sur la Cognition Animale (CRCA), Centre de Biologie Integrative (CBI), Universite de Toulouse, CNRS, UPS, 31062 Toulouse, France. Charles Perkins Centre and School of Life and Environmental Sciences, The University of Sydney, 2006 Sydney, NSW, Australia. Centre de Recherches sur la Cognition Animale (CRCA), Centre de Biologie Integrative (CBI), Universite de Toulouse, CNRS, UPS, 31062 Toulouse, France. Electronic address: audrey.dussutour@univ-tlse3.fr"
Journal Title:		Curr Biol
Year:		2020
Volume:		20191212
Issue:		1
Page Number:		135 - 142
DOI:		10.1016/j.cub.2019.11.019
ISSN/ISBN:		1879-0445 (Electronic) 0960-9822 (Linking)
Abstract:		"Achieving nutritional homeostasis is crucial for the fitness of all living organisms [1]. Using 'collective wisdom,' ants have been shown to excel at making rapid and appropriate decisions under various contexts [2, 3], including foraging [4-7]. Ants often use pheromone trails to share information about food resources [8-10], a process allowing them to focus their foraging activity on the best food source available [7, 11-14]. However, what constitutes the best food source depends on the nutritional context of the colony in relation to its food environment [15]. In this study, we exposed ant colonies to various nutrient deficiencies and observed their compensatory nutritional responses. Ants were deprived of carbohydrate, sterol, protein, a subset of amino acids, or a single amino acid. We found that ants were rapidly able to match their foraging decisions to their nutritional needs, even if the deficiency concerned a single amino acid. An individual-based model demonstrates that these impressive feats of nutritional compensation can emerge from the iterative process of trail-laying behavior, which relies on a simple individual decision: to eat or not to eat. Our results show that, by adjusting their feeding behavior at the individual level, ants sustain homeostasis at the colony level"
Keywords:		Amino Acids/deficiency/physiology Animals Ants/drug effects/*physiology Decision Making Feeding Behavior/drug effects Nutrients/*deficiency/physiology Random Allocation Linepithema humile amino acid ants collective decision homeostasis nutrition social in;
Notes:		"MedlineCsata, Eniko Gautrais, Jacques Bach, Adrian Blanchet, Jean Ferrante, Jeremy Fournier, Floriane Levesque, Tina Simpson, Stephen J Dussutour, Audrey eng Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't England 2019/12/17 Curr Biol. 2020 Jan 6; 30(1):135-142.e4. doi: 10.1016/j.cub.2019.11.019. Epub 2019 Dec 12"