Tandem communication improves ant foraging success in a highly competitive tropical habitat

Autor: N. Goß, F. S. do Nascimento, Rodrigo M. Feitosa, A. Koch, Christoph Grüter, Simone M. Glaser
Rok vydání: 2021
Předmět:
Zdroj: Glaser, S M, Feitosa, R, Koch, A, Goss, N, Nascimento, F & Grueter, C 2021, ' Tandem communication improves ant foraging success in a highly competitive tropical habitat ', Insectes Sociaux, vol. 68, pp. 161–172 . https://doi.org/10.1007/s00040-021-00810-y
ISSN: 1420-9098
0020-1812
DOI: 10.1007/s00040-021-00810-y
Popis: Tropical ants experience intense intra- and interspecific competition for food sources, which influences their activity pattern and foraging strategies. Even though different ant species can coexist through spatial and temporal niche partitioning, direct competition for food cannot be avoided. Recruitment communication is assumed to help colonies to monopolize and exploit food sources successfully, but this has rarely been tested under field conditions. We studied if recruitment communication helps colonies of the Neotropical antPachycondyla harpaxto be more successful in a highly competitive tropical environment. Additionally, we explored if temporal and spatial niche differentiation helps focal colonies to avoid competition.Pachycondyla harpaxcompeted with dozens of ant species for food. Mass-recruiting competitors were often successful in displacingP. harpaxfrom food baits. However, when foragers ofP. harpaxwere able to recruit nestmates they had a 4-times higher probability to keep access to the food baits. Colonies were unlikely to be displaced during our observations after a few ants arrived at the food source. Competition was more intense after sunset, but a disproportionate increase in activity after sunset allowed focal colonies to exploit food sources more successfully after sunset. Our results support the hypothesis that recruitment communication helps colonies to monopolize food sources by helping them to establish a critical mass of nestmates at large resources. This indicates that even species with a small colony size and a slow recruitment method, such as tandem running, benefit from recruitment communication in a competitive environment.
Databáze: OpenAIRE
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