Title: | Food transport in ants: Do Lasius niger foragers maximize their individual load? |
Author(s): | Mailleux AC; Deneubourg JL; Detrain C; |
Address: | "Universite libre de Bruxelles, Brussels, Belgium. amailleu@ulb.ac.be" |
DOI: | 10.1016/j.crvi.2008.10.005 |
ISSN/ISBN: | 1768-3238 (Electronic) 1631-0691 (Linking) |
Abstract: | "The decision for a Lasius niger forager to lay a chemical trail and launch recruitment to a food source is governed by an internal individual threshold. The value of this threshold triggering chemical communication is not set by the maximal capacity of the crop. Actually, trail-laying ants are still able to drink additional food encountered on their homeward journey. The partial filling of the crop by trail-laying ants may be a means for the ants to shorten foraging trips and to speed up the information updating within the nest. Moreover, by partially filling their crop, foragers keep a potential for sampling resources and for tasting other encountered food sources" |
Keywords: | *Animal Communication Animals Ants/*physiology Appetitive Behavior/*physiology Drinking Behavior/*physiology *Exploratory Behavior Female Pheromones/physiology Social Behavior Time Factors; |
Notes: | "MedlineMailleux, Anne-Catherine Deneubourg, Jean-Louis Detrain, Claire eng Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't France 2009/04/28 C R Biol. 2009 May; 332(5):500-6. doi: 10.1016/j.crvi.2008.10.005. Epub 2008 Dec 19" |