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Contala ML, Krapf P, Steiner FM, Schlick-Steiner BC. Foraging valor linked with aggression: selection against completely abandoning aggression in the high-elevation ant Tetramorium alpestre? INSECT SCIENCE 2024; 31:953-970. [PMID: 37602971 DOI: 10.1111/1744-7917.13263] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/08/2023] [Revised: 06/29/2023] [Accepted: 07/12/2023] [Indexed: 08/22/2023]
Abstract
Aggression has multiple benefits and is often coupled with other behaviors ("behavioral syndromes"). The level of aggressiveness is influenced by an adaptive benefit-cost ratio suggesting that benefits should outweigh the costs of aggression. Here, we assess if several behaviors are coupled in two behaviorally different populations (aggressive, peaceful) of the high-elevation ant Tetramorium alpestre. For three weeks, we collected colony fragments and analyzed boldness, exploring, foraging, and risk-taking behaviors. We hypothesized that the aggressive population is bolder, more explorative and risk-prone, and forages more food than the peaceful population. To test whether (a) the combination of experiments and parameters used yields a good setup, (b) populations differ behaviorally, and (c) populations display behavioral syndromes, we assessed (a) the frequency of repeatable behaviors of each experiment, (b) the behavioral means among populations, and (c) the behavioral repeatability, respectively. We found that (a) boldness and exploring were most repeatable and represent a good experimental setup, (b) the aggressive population was bolder and more explorative and risk-prone than the peaceful population, (c) boldness and exploring behaviors were highly repeatable in both populations, thus corroborating our hypothesis. The results suggest that boldness, exploring, and risk-taking but not foraging are presumably coupled with aggression and indicate the presence of behavioral syndromes in this ant. Under specific ecological conditions, aggression may be coupled with other behaviors and important for finding food. Aggression is probably adaptive in T. alpestre, possibly indicating that selection favors aggression at least partially, which may counteract the complete loss of intraspecific aggression.
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Affiliation(s)
- Marie-Luise Contala
- Molecular Ecology Group, Department of Ecology, Universität Innsbruck, Innsbruck, Austria
| | - Patrick Krapf
- Molecular Ecology Group, Department of Ecology, Universität Innsbruck, Innsbruck, Austria
- Organismal & Evolutionary Biology Research Programme, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland
| | - Florian M Steiner
- Molecular Ecology Group, Department of Ecology, Universität Innsbruck, Innsbruck, Austria
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2
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Rajagopal S, Sasaki T. Paint marking using CO 2 anaesthetization does not affect exploratory and recruitment behaviours in the rock ant, Temnothorax rugatulus. Behav Processes 2024; 215:104985. [PMID: 38145699 DOI: 10.1016/j.beproc.2023.104985] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/26/2023] [Accepted: 12/20/2023] [Indexed: 12/27/2023]
Abstract
The study of animal behaviour sometimes requires unique identification of individuals, especially in the study of social behaviours involving the interactions of multiple individuals. To this end, researchers have developed many different methods of marking individuals. For small animals like insects, paint marks are often applied to their bodies by anaesthetizing them using low temperature or carbon dioxide. Despite this procedure being ubiquitous when studying social insects, the effect of paint and anaesthetics on their behaviour has not been well investigated, especially their effect on performance during a collective task. In our study, we investigate how paint marks and anaesthetics affect the movement and recruitment behaviours of the ant Temnothorax rugatulus in a house hunting context. We painted two thirds of colony members, half of them using CO2 and the other half using low temperature as methods of anaesthetization, and left the one third unpainted as a control group. We then measured their exploratory behaviour prior to house hunting and their recruitment behaviours during house hunting. We found that neither paint marks nor anaesthetics reduce activity levels of these behaviours. However, low-temperature anaesthetized ants performed a higher number of recruitment behaviours than control ants. Because CO2 anaesthetized ants performed all tasks at the same level as control ants, our data suggest that this is a good technique for paint marking ants, especially T. rugatulus. This is the first study empirically testing negative effects of paint marking on individual and collective outcomes in social insects. Our study represents an important step towards routine validation of individual identification methods used in the study of animal behaviour.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Takao Sasaki
- Odum School of Ecology, University of Georgia, USA
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3
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Mezőfi L, Markó V, Taranyi DÁ, Markó G. Sex-specific life-history strategies among immature jumping spiders: Differences in body parameters and behavior. Curr Zool 2023; 69:535-551. [PMID: 37637309 PMCID: PMC10449423 DOI: 10.1093/cz/zoac069] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/14/2022] [Accepted: 09/02/2022] [Indexed: 08/29/2023] Open
Abstract
Selection forces often generate sex-specific differences in various traits closely related to fitness. While in adult spiders (Araneae), sexes often differ in coloration, body size, antipredator, or foraging behavior, such sex-related differences are less pronounced among immatures. However, sex-specific life-history strategies may also be adaptive for immatures. Thus, we hypothesized that among spiders, immature individuals show different life-history strategies that are expressed as sex-specific differences in body parameters and behavioral features, and also in their relationships. We used immature individuals of a protandrous jumping spider, Carrhotus xanthogramma, and examined sex-related differences. The results showed that males have higher mass and larger prosoma than females. Males were more active and more risk tolerant than females. Male activity increased with time, and larger males tended to capture the prey faster than small ones, while females showed no such patterns. However, females reacted to the threatening abiotic stimuli more with the increasing number of test sessions. In both males and females, individuals with better body conditions tended to be more risk averse. Spiders showed no sex-specific differences in interindividual behavioral consistency and in intraindividual behavioral variation in the measured behavioral traits. Finally, we also found evidence for behavioral syndromes (i.e., correlation between different behaviors), where in males, only the activity correlated with the risk-taking behavior, but in females, all the measured behavioral traits were involved. The present study demonstrates that C. xanthogramma sexes follow different life-history strategies even before attaining maturity.
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Affiliation(s)
- László Mezőfi
- Institute of Plant Protection, Hungarian University of Agriculture and Life Sciences, Budapest 1118, Hungary
| | - Viktor Markó
- Institute of Plant Protection, Hungarian University of Agriculture and Life Sciences, Budapest 1118, Hungary
| | - Dóra Ágnes Taranyi
- Institute of Viticulture and Enology, Hungarian University of Agriculture and Life Sciences, Budapest 1118, Hungary
| | - Gábor Markó
- Institute of Plant Protection, Hungarian University of Agriculture and Life Sciences, Budapest 1118, Hungary
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4
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Lösel PD, Monchanin C, Lebrun R, Jayme A, Relle JJ, Devaud JM, Heuveline V, Lihoreau M. Natural variability in bee brain size and symmetry revealed by micro-CT imaging and deep learning. PLoS Comput Biol 2023; 19:e1011529. [PMID: 37782674 PMCID: PMC10569549 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pcbi.1011529] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/18/2023] [Revised: 10/12/2023] [Accepted: 09/19/2023] [Indexed: 10/04/2023] Open
Abstract
Analysing large numbers of brain samples can reveal minor, but statistically and biologically relevant variations in brain morphology that provide critical insights into animal behaviour, ecology and evolution. So far, however, such analyses have required extensive manual effort, which considerably limits the scope for comparative research. Here we used micro-CT imaging and deep learning to perform automated analyses of 3D image data from 187 honey bee and bumblebee brains. We revealed strong inter-individual variations in total brain size that are consistent across colonies and species, and may underpin behavioural variability central to complex social organisations. In addition, the bumblebee dataset showed a significant level of lateralization in optic and antennal lobes, providing a potential explanation for reported variations in visual and olfactory learning. Our fast, robust and user-friendly approach holds considerable promises for carrying out large-scale quantitative neuroanatomical comparisons across a wider range of animals. Ultimately, this will help address fundamental unresolved questions related to the evolution of animal brains and cognition.
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Affiliation(s)
- Philipp D. Lösel
- Engineering Mathematics and Computing Lab (EMCL), Interdisciplinary Center for Scientific Computing (IWR), Heidelberg University, Heidelberg, Germany
- Data Mining and Uncertainty Quantification (DMQ), Heidelberg Institute for Theoretical Studies (HITS), Heidelberg, Germany
- Department of Materials Physics, Research School of Physics, The Australian National University, Canberra, Australia
| | - Coline Monchanin
- Research Center on Animal Cognition (CRCA), Center for Integrative Biology (CBI); CNRS, University Paul Sabatier – Toulouse III, Toulouse, France
- Department of Biological Sciences, Macquarie University, Sydney, Australia
| | - Renaud Lebrun
- Institut des Sciences de l’Evolution de Montpellier, CC64, Université de Montpellier, Montpellier, France
- BioCampus, Montpellier Ressources Imagerie, CNRS, INSERM, Université de Montpellier, Montpellier, France
| | - Alejandra Jayme
- Engineering Mathematics and Computing Lab (EMCL), Interdisciplinary Center for Scientific Computing (IWR), Heidelberg University, Heidelberg, Germany
- Data Mining and Uncertainty Quantification (DMQ), Heidelberg Institute for Theoretical Studies (HITS), Heidelberg, Germany
| | - Jacob J. Relle
- Engineering Mathematics and Computing Lab (EMCL), Interdisciplinary Center for Scientific Computing (IWR), Heidelberg University, Heidelberg, Germany
- Data Mining and Uncertainty Quantification (DMQ), Heidelberg Institute for Theoretical Studies (HITS), Heidelberg, Germany
| | - Jean-Marc Devaud
- Research Center on Animal Cognition (CRCA), Center for Integrative Biology (CBI); CNRS, University Paul Sabatier – Toulouse III, Toulouse, France
| | - Vincent Heuveline
- Engineering Mathematics and Computing Lab (EMCL), Interdisciplinary Center for Scientific Computing (IWR), Heidelberg University, Heidelberg, Germany
- Data Mining and Uncertainty Quantification (DMQ), Heidelberg Institute for Theoretical Studies (HITS), Heidelberg, Germany
- Heidelberg University Computing Centre (URZ), Heidelberg, Germany
| | - Mathieu Lihoreau
- Research Center on Animal Cognition (CRCA), Center for Integrative Biology (CBI); CNRS, University Paul Sabatier – Toulouse III, Toulouse, France
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5
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Horváth G, Garamszegi LZ, Herczeg G. Phylogenetic meta-analysis reveals system-specific behavioural type-behavioural predictability correlations. ROYAL SOCIETY OPEN SCIENCE 2023; 10:230303. [PMID: 37680498 PMCID: PMC10480700 DOI: 10.1098/rsos.230303] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/16/2023] [Accepted: 07/24/2023] [Indexed: 09/09/2023]
Abstract
The biological significance of behavioural predictability (environment-independent within-individual behavioural variation) became accepted recently as an important part of an individual's behavioural strategy besides behavioural type (individual mean behaviour). However, we do not know how behavioural type and predictability evolve. Here, we tested different evolutionary scenarios: (i) the two traits evolve independently (lack of correlations) and (ii) the two traits' evolution is constrained (abundant correlations) due to either (ii/a) proximate constraints (direction of correlations is similar) or (ii/b) local adaptations (direction of correlations is variable). We applied a set of phylogenetic meta-analyses based on 93 effect sizes across 44 vertebrate and invertebrate species, focusing on activity and risk-taking. The general correlation between behavioural type and predictability did not differ from zero. Effect sizes for correlations showed considerable heterogeneity, with both negative and positive correlations occurring. The overall absolute (unsigned) effect size was high (Zr = 0.58), and significantly exceeded the null expectation based on randomized data. Our results support the adaptive scenario: correlations between behavioural type and predictability are abundant in nature, but their direction is variable. We suggest that the evolution of these behavioural components might be constrained in a system-specific way.
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Affiliation(s)
- Gergely Horváth
- Department of Systematic Zoology and Ecology, Institute of Biology, ELTE Eötvös Loránd University, Pázmány Péter sétány 1/C, 1117 Budapest, Hungary
- ELKH-ELTE-MTM Integrative Ecology Research Group, Pázmány Péter sétány 1/C, 1117 Budapest, Hungary
| | - László Zsolt Garamszegi
- Centre for Ecological Research, Institute of Ecology and Botany, Alkotmány u. 2-4, 2163 Vácrátót, Hungary
- National Laboratory for Health Security, Centre for Ecological Research, Budapest, Hungary
| | - Gábor Herczeg
- Department of Systematic Zoology and Ecology, Institute of Biology, ELTE Eötvös Loránd University, Pázmány Péter sétány 1/C, 1117 Budapest, Hungary
- ELKH-ELTE-MTM Integrative Ecology Research Group, Pázmány Péter sétány 1/C, 1117 Budapest, Hungary
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6
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Kikuchi DW, Allen WL, Arbuckle K, Aubier TG, Briolat ES, Burdfield-Steel ER, Cheney KL, Daňková K, Elias M, Hämäläinen L, Herberstein ME, Hossie TJ, Joron M, Kunte K, Leavell BC, Lindstedt C, Lorioux-Chevalier U, McClure M, McLellan CF, Medina I, Nawge V, Páez E, Pal A, Pekár S, Penacchio O, Raška J, Reader T, Rojas B, Rönkä KH, Rößler DC, Rowe C, Rowland HM, Roy A, Schaal KA, Sherratt TN, Skelhorn J, Smart HR, Stankowich T, Stefan AM, Summers K, Taylor CH, Thorogood R, Umbers K, Winters AE, Yeager J, Exnerová A. The evolution and ecology of multiple antipredator defences. J Evol Biol 2023; 36:975-991. [PMID: 37363877 DOI: 10.1111/jeb.14192] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/11/2022] [Revised: 05/03/2023] [Accepted: 05/07/2023] [Indexed: 06/28/2023]
Abstract
Prey seldom rely on a single type of antipredator defence, often using multiple defences to avoid predation. In many cases, selection in different contexts may favour the evolution of multiple defences in a prey. However, a prey may use multiple defences to protect itself during a single predator encounter. Such "defence portfolios" that defend prey against a single instance of predation are distributed across and within successive stages of the predation sequence (encounter, detection, identification, approach (attack), subjugation and consumption). We contend that at present, our understanding of defence portfolio evolution is incomplete, and seen from the fragmentary perspective of specific sensory systems (e.g., visual) or specific types of defences (especially aposematism). In this review, we aim to build a comprehensive framework for conceptualizing the evolution of multiple prey defences, beginning with hypotheses for the evolution of multiple defences in general, and defence portfolios in particular. We then examine idealized models of resource trade-offs and functional interactions between traits, along with evidence supporting them. We find that defence portfolios are constrained by resource allocation to other aspects of life history, as well as functional incompatibilities between different defences. We also find that selection is likely to favour combinations of defences that have synergistic effects on predator behaviour and prey survival. Next, we examine specific aspects of prey ecology, genetics and development, and predator cognition that modify the predictions of current hypotheses or introduce competing hypotheses. We outline schema for gathering data on the distribution of prey defences across species and geography, determining how multiple defences are produced, and testing the proximate mechanisms by which multiple prey defences impact predator behaviour. Adopting these approaches will strengthen our understanding of multiple defensive strategies.
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Affiliation(s)
- David W Kikuchi
- Department of Integrative Biology, Oregon State University, Corvallis, Oregon, USA
- Evolutionary Biology, Universität Bielefeld, Bielefeld, Germany
| | | | - Kevin Arbuckle
- Department of Biosciences, Swansea University, Swansea, UK
| | - Thomas G Aubier
- Department of Biology, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, North Carolina, USA
- Laboratoire Évolution & Diversité Biologique, Université Paul Sabatier Toulouse III, UMR 5174, CNRS/IRD, Toulouse, France
| | | | - Emily R Burdfield-Steel
- Institute of Biodiversity and Ecosystem Dynamics, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
| | - Karen L Cheney
- School of Biological Sciences, The University of Queensland, St Lucia, Queensland, Australia
| | - Klára Daňková
- Department of Zoology, Faculty of Science, Charles University, Prague, Czech Republic
| | - Marianne Elias
- Institut de Systématique, Evolution, Biodiversité, CNRS, MNHN, Sorbonne Université, EPHE, Université des Antilles, Paris, France
- Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, Gamboa, Panama
| | - Liisa Hämäläinen
- School of Natural Sciences, Macquarie University, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
| | - Marie E Herberstein
- School of Natural Sciences, Macquarie University, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
| | - Thomas J Hossie
- Department of Biology, Trent University, Peterborough, Ontario, Canada
| | - Mathieu Joron
- CEFE, Université de Montpellier, CNRS, EPHE, IRD, Montpellier, France
| | - Krushnamegh Kunte
- National Centre for Biological Sciences, Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Bengaluru, India
| | - Brian C Leavell
- Department of Biological Sciences, Purdue University, West Lafayette, Indiana, USA
| | - Carita Lindstedt
- Department of Forest Sciences, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland
| | - Ugo Lorioux-Chevalier
- Laboratoire Écologie, Évolution, Interactions des Systèmes Amazoniens (LEEISA), Université de Guyane, CNRS, IFREMER, Cayenne, France
| | - Melanie McClure
- Laboratoire Écologie, Évolution, Interactions des Systèmes Amazoniens (LEEISA), Université de Guyane, CNRS, IFREMER, Cayenne, France
| | | | - Iliana Medina
- School of BioSciences, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
| | - Viraj Nawge
- National Centre for Biological Sciences, Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Bengaluru, India
| | - Erika Páez
- Institut de Systématique, Evolution, Biodiversité, CNRS, MNHN, Sorbonne Université, EPHE, Université des Antilles, Paris, France
| | - Arka Pal
- National Centre for Biological Sciences, Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Bengaluru, India
| | - Stano Pekár
- Department of Botany and Zoology, Faculty of Science, Masaryk University, Brno, Czech Republic
| | - Olivier Penacchio
- School of Psychology and Neuroscience, University of St Andrews, St Andrews, UK
- Computer Vision Center, Computer Science Department, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain
| | - Jan Raška
- Department of Zoology, Faculty of Science, Charles University, Prague, Czech Republic
| | - Tom Reader
- School of Life Sciences, University of Nottingham, Nottingham, UK
| | - Bibiana Rojas
- Department of Interdisciplinary Life Sciences, Konrad Lorenz Institute of Ethology, University of Veterinary Medicine, Vienna, Austria
- Department of Biology and Environmental Science, University of Jyväskylä, Jyväskylä, Finland
| | - Katja H Rönkä
- HiLIFE Helsinki Institute of Life Sciences, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland
- Research Programme in Organismal & Evolutionary Biology, Faculty of Biological and Environmental Sciences, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland
| | - Daniela C Rößler
- Zukunftskolleg, University of Konstanz, Konstanz, Germany
- Department of Collective Behavior, Max Planck Institute of Animal Behavior, Konstanz, Germany
| | - Candy Rowe
- Institute of Biosciences, Faculty of Medical Sciences, Newcastle University, Newcastle upon Tyne, UK
| | - Hannah M Rowland
- Max Planck Research Group Predators and Toxic Prey, Max Planck Institute for Chemical Ecology, Jena, Germany
| | - Arlety Roy
- Laboratoire Écologie, Évolution, Interactions des Systèmes Amazoniens (LEEISA), Université de Guyane, CNRS, IFREMER, Cayenne, France
| | - Kaitlin A Schaal
- Institute of Integrative Biology, ETH Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland
| | | | - John Skelhorn
- Institute of Biosciences, Faculty of Medical Sciences, Newcastle University, Newcastle upon Tyne, UK
| | - Hannah R Smart
- Hawkesbury Institute of the Environment, Western Sydney University, Penrith, New South Wales, Australia
| | - Ted Stankowich
- Department of Biological Sciences, California State University, Long Beach, California, USA
| | - Amanda M Stefan
- Department of Biology, Carleton University, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
| | - Kyle Summers
- Department of Biology, East Carolina University, Greenville, North Carolina, USA
| | | | - Rose Thorogood
- HiLIFE Helsinki Institute of Life Sciences, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland
- Research Programme in Organismal & Evolutionary Biology, Faculty of Biological and Environmental Sciences, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland
| | - Kate Umbers
- Hawkesbury Institute of the Environment, Western Sydney University, Penrith, New South Wales, Australia
- School of Science Western Sydney University, Penrith, New South Wales, Australia
| | - Anne E Winters
- Centre for Ecology and Conservation, University of Exeter, Penryn, UK
| | - Justin Yeager
- Grupo de Biodiversidad Medio Ambiente y Salud, Universidad de Las Américas, Quito, Ecuador
| | - Alice Exnerová
- Department of Zoology, Faculty of Science, Charles University, Prague, Czech Republic
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7
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Jacquier L, Molet M, Doums C. Urban colonies are less aggressive but forage more than their forest counterparts in the ant Temnothorax nylanderi. Anim Behav 2023. [DOI: 10.1016/j.anbehav.2023.02.004] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 03/22/2023]
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8
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Krapf P, Sedfaoui K, Contala ML, Steiner FM, Schlick-Steiner BC. Short-time development of among-colony behaviour in a high-elevation ant. Behav Processes 2023; 208:104872. [PMID: 37011703 DOI: 10.1016/j.beproc.2023.104872] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/24/2022] [Revised: 03/25/2023] [Accepted: 03/30/2023] [Indexed: 04/03/2023]
Abstract
Standardised assays are often used to characterise aggression in animals. In ants,such assays can be applied at several organisational levels (e.g., colony, population) and at specific times during the season. However, whether the behaviour differs at these levels and changes over a few weeks remains largely unexplored. Here, six colonies from the high-elevation ant Tetramorium alpestre were collected weekly for five weeks from two behaviourally-different populations (aggressive and peaceful in intraspecific encounters). We conducted one-on-one worker encounters at the colony and population levels. When analysing the colony combinations separately, the behaviour was peaceful and remained so within the peaceful population; initial aggression became partially peaceful within the aggressive population; and initial aggression decreased occasionally and increased in one combination but remained constant for most across-population combinations. When analysing all colony combinations together, within-population behaviour remained similar, but acrosspopulation behaviour became peaceful. The observed behavioural differences among organisational levels emphasise the relevance of assessing both. Moreover, the effect of decreasing aggression is discernible already over a few weeks. Compression of the vegetation period at high elevations may compress such behavioural changes.Addressing both organisational levels and seasonality is important, particularly in studies of behavioural complexity such as in this ant.
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Affiliation(s)
- Patrick Krapf
- Molecular Ecology Group, Department of Ecology, Universität Innsbruck, Austria.
| | - Klaus Sedfaoui
- Molecular Ecology Group, Department of Ecology, Universität Innsbruck, Austria; Department of Biology, University of Padua, Italy
| | - Marie-Luise Contala
- Molecular Ecology Group, Department of Ecology, Universität Innsbruck, Austria
| | - Florian M Steiner
- Molecular Ecology Group, Department of Ecology, Universität Innsbruck, Austria
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9
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Odell SR, Zito N, Clark D, Mathew D. Stability of olfactory behavior syndromes in the Drosophila larva. Sci Rep 2023; 13:2398. [PMID: 36765192 PMCID: PMC9918538 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-023-29523-x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/18/2022] [Accepted: 02/06/2023] [Indexed: 02/12/2023] Open
Abstract
Individuals of many animal populations exhibit idiosyncratic behaviors. One measure of idiosyncratic behavior is a behavior syndrome, defined as the stability of one or more behavior traits in an individual across different situations. While behavior syndromes have been described in various animal systems, their properties and the circuit mechanisms that generate them are poorly understood. We thus have an incomplete understanding of how circuit properties influence animal behavior. Here, we characterize olfactory behavior syndromes in the Drosophila larva. We show that larvae exhibit idiosyncrasies in their olfactory behavior over short time scales. They are influenced by the larva's satiety state and odor environment. Additionally, we identified a group of antennal lobe local neurons that influence the larva's idiosyncratic behavior. These findings reveal previously unsuspected influences on idiosyncratic behavior. They further affirm the idea that idiosyncrasies are not simply statistical phenomena but manifestations of neural mechanisms. In light of these findings, we discuss more broadly the importance of idiosyncrasies to animal survival and how they might be studied.
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Affiliation(s)
- Seth R Odell
- Integrative Neuroscience Program, University of Nevada, Reno, NV, 89557, USA
| | - Nicholas Zito
- Integrative Neuroscience Program, University of Nevada, Reno, NV, 89557, USA
| | - David Clark
- Integrative Neuroscience Program, University of Nevada, Reno, NV, 89557, USA
| | - Dennis Mathew
- Integrative Neuroscience Program, University of Nevada, Reno, NV, 89557, USA. .,Department of Biology, University of Nevada, Reno, NV, 89557, USA.
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10
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Finke V, Scheiner R, Giurfa M, Avarguès-Weber A. Individual consistency in the learning abilities of honey bees: cognitive specialization within sensory and reinforcement modalities. Anim Cogn 2023; 26:909-928. [PMID: 36609813 PMCID: PMC10066154 DOI: 10.1007/s10071-022-01741-2] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/12/2022] [Revised: 12/19/2022] [Accepted: 12/30/2022] [Indexed: 01/09/2023]
Abstract
The question of whether individuals perform consistently across a variety of cognitive tasks is relevant for studies of comparative cognition. The honey bee (Apis mellifera) is an appropriate model to study cognitive consistency as its learning can be studied in multiple elemental and non-elemental learning tasks. We took advantage of this possibility and studied if the ability of honey bees to learn a simple discrimination correlates with their ability to solve two tasks of higher complexity, reversal learning and negative patterning. We performed four experiments in which we varied the sensory modality of the stimuli (visual or olfactory) and the type (Pavlovian or operant) and complexity (elemental or non-elemental) of conditioning to examine if stable correlated performances could be observed across experiments. Across all experiments, an individual's proficiency to learn the simple discrimination task was positively and significantly correlated with performance in both reversal learning and negative patterning, while the performances in reversal learning and negative patterning were positively, yet not significantly correlated. These results suggest that correlated performances across learning paradigms represent a distinct cognitive characteristic of bees. Further research is necessary to examine if individual cognitive consistency can be found in other insect species as a common characteristic of insect brains.
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Affiliation(s)
- Valerie Finke
- Zoologie II, Biozentrum, University of Würzburg, Am Hubland, 97074, Würzburg, Germany. .,Centre de Recherches sur la Cognition Animale (CRCA), Centre de Biologie Intégrative (CBI), Université de Toulouse, CNRS, UPS, 118 Route de Narbonne, 31062, Toulouse, France.
| | - Ricarda Scheiner
- Zoologie II, Biozentrum, University of Würzburg, Am Hubland, 97074, Würzburg, Germany
| | - Martin Giurfa
- Centre de Recherches sur la Cognition Animale (CRCA), Centre de Biologie Intégrative (CBI), Université de Toulouse, CNRS, UPS, 118 Route de Narbonne, 31062, Toulouse, France.,Institut Universitaire de France, Paris, France
| | - Aurore Avarguès-Weber
- Centre de Recherches sur la Cognition Animale (CRCA), Centre de Biologie Intégrative (CBI), Université de Toulouse, CNRS, UPS, 118 Route de Narbonne, 31062, Toulouse, France
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11
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Background matching explains repeatable individual variation in the defence strategies of a stick insect. Anim Behav 2022. [DOI: 10.1016/j.anbehav.2022.10.003] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/25/2022]
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12
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Menges V, Späth S, Menzel F. Temporally consistent behavioural variation between wild ant colonies is robust to strong seasonal and thermal variation. Anim Behav 2022. [DOI: 10.1016/j.anbehav.2022.10.014] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/24/2022]
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13
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State and physiology behind personality in arthropods: a review. Behav Ecol Sociobiol 2022. [DOI: 10.1007/s00265-022-03259-6] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/02/2022]
Abstract
AbstractIn the endeavour to understand the causes and consequences of the variation in animal personality, a wide range of studies were carried out, utilising various aspects to make sense of this biological phenomenon. One such aspect integrated the study of physiological traits, investigating hypothesised physiological correlates of personality. Although many of such studies were carried out on vertebrates (predominantly on birds and mammals), studies using arthropods (mainly insects) as model organisms were also at the forefront of this area of research. In order to review the current state of knowledge on the relationship between personality and the most frequently studied physiological parameters in arthropods, we searched for scientific articles that investigated this relationship. In our review, we only included papers utilising a repeated-measures methodology to be conceptually and formally concordant with the study of animal personality. Based on our literature survey, metabolic rate, thermal physiology, immunophysiology, and endocrine regulation, as well as exogenous agents (such as toxins) were often identified as significant affectors shaping animal personality in arthropods. We found only weak support for state-dependence of personality when the state is approximated by singular elements (or effectors) of condition. We conclude that a more comprehensive integration of physiological parameters with condition may be required for a better understanding of state’s importance in animal personality. Also, a notable knowledge gap persists in arthropods regarding the association between metabolic rate and hormonal regulation, and their combined effects on personality. We discuss the findings published on the physiological correlates of animal personality in arthropods with the aim to summarise current knowledge, putting it into the context of current theory on the origin of animal personality.
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14
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Sarioğlu-Bozkurt A, Topal E, Güneş N, Üçeş E, Cornea-Cipcigan M, Coşkun İ, Cuibus L, Mărgăoan R. Changes in Vitellogenin (Vg) and Stress Protein (HSP 70) in Honey Bee ( Apis mellifera anatoliaca) Groups under Different Diets Linked with Physico-Chemical, Antioxidant and Fatty and Amino Acid Profiles. INSECTS 2022; 13:985. [PMID: 36354809 PMCID: PMC9698881 DOI: 10.3390/insects13110985] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/22/2022] [Revised: 10/21/2022] [Accepted: 10/24/2022] [Indexed: 06/16/2023]
Abstract
Honey bee colonies are often subjected to diseases, nutrition quality, temperature and other stresses depending on environmental and climatic conditions. As a result of malnutrition, the level of Vg protein decreases, leading to overwintering losses. The Vg values must be high for a successful wintering, especially before wintering. If good nutrition is not reached, the long winter period may cause an increase in colony losses. Supplementary feeding is essential for colony sustainability when floral resources are insufficient, as in recent years with the emerging climate changes. Furthermore, quality food sources or nutrients are significant for maintaining honey bee health and longevity. This study examined the changes in HSP 70 and Vg proteins in 6 groups of 48 colonies fed with five different nutrients. The fatty acids that are present in the highest amount in Cistus creticus (Pink rock-rose), Papaver somniferum (Opium poppy) and mixed pollen samples were linoleic, palmitic and cis-9-oleic acids. The highest values in proline, lysine and glutamic acid were determined in C. creticus pollen. Regarding the P. somniferum pollen, the highest values were observed in lysine, proline, glutamic and aspartic acids. The highest values in lysine, proline, leucine and aspartic acid were noticed in mixed pollen. The effect of different feeding on Vg protein in nurse and forager bee samples was higher in the mixed pollen group in the fall period. In nurse bees, the mixed pollen group was followed by Cistus creticus pollen > Papaver somniferum pollen > sugar syrup > commercial bee cake > control group, respectively (p < 0.05). In forager bees, the order was mixed pollen, P. somniferum pollen, C. creticus pollen, commercial bee cake, sugar syrup and control. In the early spring period, the Vg levels were high in the mixed pollen group in the nurse bees and the commercial bee cake group in the forager bees. In the fall period, the HSP 70 value of the forager and nurse bees was the lowest in the C. creticus group (p < 0.05). In early spring, the active period of flora, a statistical difference was found between the treatment groups.
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Affiliation(s)
- Aybike Sarioğlu-Bozkurt
- Department of Biochemistry, School of Veterinary Medicine, Bursa Uludag University, Nilüfer, 16059 Bursa, Turkey
| | - Erkan Topal
- Izmir Food Control Laboratory Directorate, Bornova, 35100 Izmir, Turkey
| | - Nazmiye Güneş
- Department of Biochemistry, School of Veterinary Medicine, Bursa Uludag University, Nilüfer, 16059 Bursa, Turkey
| | - Engin Üçeş
- Apiculture Research Center, Aegean Agricultural Research Institute, 35660 Izmir, Turkey
| | - Mihaiela Cornea-Cipcigan
- Faculty of Horticulture and Business in Rural Development, University of Agricultural Sciences and Veterinary Medicine Cluj-Napoca, 400372 Cluj-Napoca, Romania
- Advanced Horticultural Research Institute of Transylvania, University of Agricultural Sciences and Veterinary Medicine Cluj-Napoca, 400372 Cluj-Napoca, Romania
| | - İlknur Coşkun
- Altıparmak Gıda Sanayi ve Ticaret A.Ş., 34782 Istanbul, Turkey
| | - Lucian Cuibus
- Department of Food Science, University of Agricultural Sciences and Veterinary Medicine Cluj-Napoca, 400372 Cluj-Napoca, Romania
| | - Rodica Mărgăoan
- Faculty of Horticulture and Business in Rural Development, University of Agricultural Sciences and Veterinary Medicine Cluj-Napoca, 400372 Cluj-Napoca, Romania
- Advanced Horticultural Research Institute of Transylvania, University of Agricultural Sciences and Veterinary Medicine Cluj-Napoca, 400372 Cluj-Napoca, Romania
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15
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Variation in plastic consumption: social group size enhances individual susceptibility to an evolutionary trap. Anim Behav 2022. [DOI: 10.1016/j.anbehav.2022.07.010] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/21/2022]
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16
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Hasenjager MJ, Franks VR, Leadbeater E. From dyads to collectives: a review of honeybee signalling. Behav Ecol Sociobiol 2022. [DOI: 10.1007/s00265-022-03218-1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/28/2022]
Abstract
AbstractThe societies of honeybees (Apis spp.) are microcosms of divided labour where the fitness interests of individuals are so closely aligned that, in some contexts, the colony behaves as an entity in itself. Self-organization at this extraordinary level requires sophisticated communication networks, so it is not surprising that the celebrated waggle dance, by which bees share information about locations outside the hive, evolved here. Yet bees within the colony respond to several other lesser-known signalling systems, including the tremble dance, the stop signal and the shaking signal, whose roles in coordinating worker behaviour are not yet fully understood. Here, we firstly bring together the large but disparate historical body of work that has investigated the “meaning” of such signals for individual bees, before going on to discuss how network-based approaches can show how such signals function as a complex system to control the collective foraging effort of these remarkable social insect societies.
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17
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Tanaka Y, Hojo MK, Shimoji H. Individual experience influences reconstruction of division of labour under colony disturbance in a queenless ant species. Front Zool 2022; 19:20. [PMID: 35706054 PMCID: PMC9202139 DOI: 10.1186/s12983-022-00466-9] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/06/2022] [Accepted: 05/31/2022] [Indexed: 11/10/2022] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND Division of labour (DOL) is ubiquitous across biological hierarchies. In eusocial insects, DOL is often characterized by age-related task allocation, but workers can flexibly change their tasks, allowing for DOL reconstruction in fluctuating environments. Behavioural change driven by individual experience is regarded as a key to understanding this task flexibility. However, experimental evidence for the influence of individual experience is remains sparse. Here we tested the effect of individual experience on task choice in the queenless ponerine ant, Diacamma cf. indicum from Japan. RESULTS We confirmed that both nurses and foragers shifted to vacant tasks when the colony composition was biased to one or the other. We also found that nurses which are induced to forage readily revert to nursing when reintroduced into balanced colonies. In contrast, foragers which are induced to revert to nursing very rarely return to a foraging role, even 19 days post reintroduction to their original colony. CONCLUSIONS Taken together, our results suggest that individual experience decreases the response threshold of original foragers, as they continue to be specialist nurses in a disturbed colony. However, original nurses do not appear strongly affected by having forager experience and revert to being nurses. Therefore, while individual experience does have an effect, other factors, such as reproductive ability, are clearly required to understand DOL maintenance in fluctuating environments.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yasunari Tanaka
- School of Biological and Environmental Sciences, Kwansei Gakuin University, Sanda, Hyogo, 669-1330, Japan
| | - Masaru K Hojo
- School of Biological and Environmental Sciences, Kwansei Gakuin University, Sanda, Hyogo, 669-1330, Japan
| | - Hiroyuki Shimoji
- School of Biological and Environmental Sciences, Kwansei Gakuin University, Sanda, Hyogo, 669-1330, Japan.
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18
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Bai ZD, Shi CY, Sillam-Dussès D, Wang RW. Elusive workers are more likely to differentiate into replacement reproductives than aggressive workers in a lower termite. Curr Zool 2022. [DOI: 10.1093/cz/zoac040] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/12/2022] Open
Abstract
Abstract
One of the most intriguing questions in eusocial insects is to understand how the overt reproductive conflict in the colony appears limited when queens or kings are senescent or lost, since the morphologically similar individuals in the colony are reproductively totipotent. Whether there are some individuals which preferentially differentiate into replacement reproductives or not has received little attention. The consistent individual behavioral differences (also termed ‘animal personality’) of individuals from the colony can shape cunningly their task and consequently affect the colony fitness but have been rarely investigated in eusocial insects. Here, we used the termite Reticulitermes labralis to investigate if variations in individual personalities (elusiveness and aggressiveness) may predict which individuals will perform reproductive differentiation within colonies. We observed that when we separately reared elusive and aggressive workers, elusive workers differentiate into reproductives significantly earlier than aggressive workers. When we reared them together in the proportions 12:3, 10:5 and 8:7 (aggressive workers:elusive workers), the first reproductives mostly differentiated from the elusive workers, and the reproductives differentiated from the elusive workers significantly earlier than from aggressive workers. Furthermore, we found that the number of workers participating in reproductive differentiation was significantly lower in the groups of both type of workers than in groups containing only elusive workers. Our results demonstrate that the elusiveness trait was a strong predictor of workers differentiation into replacement reproductives in R. labralis. Moreover, our results suggest that individual personalities within the insect society could play a key role in resolving the overt reproductive conflict.
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Affiliation(s)
- Zhuang-Dong Bai
- School of Ecology and Environment, Northwestern Polytechnical University, Xi’an 710072, China
| | - Chong-Yang Shi
- School of Ecology and Environment, Northwestern Polytechnical University, Xi’an 710072, China
| | - David Sillam-Dussès
- Laboratory of Experimental and Comparative Ethology, LEEC, UR 4443, University Sorbonne Paris Nord, Villetaneuse, France
| | - Rui-Wu Wang
- School of Ecology and Environment, Northwestern Polytechnical University, Xi’an 710072, China
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19
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Social rank and species-specific differences influence cooperation and conflict in anemonefish societies. Anim Behav 2022. [DOI: 10.1016/j.anbehav.2022.02.018] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/22/2022]
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20
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Sharma N, Gadagkar R, Pinter-Wollman N. A reproductive heir has a central position in multilayer social networks of paper wasps. Anim Behav 2022. [DOI: 10.1016/j.anbehav.2021.12.011] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/01/2022]
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21
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Easter C, Leadbeater E, Hasenjager MJ. Behavioural variation among workers promotes feed-forward loops in a simulated insect colony. ROYAL SOCIETY OPEN SCIENCE 2022; 9:220120. [PMID: 35316950 PMCID: PMC8889185 DOI: 10.1098/rsos.220120] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/31/2022] [Accepted: 02/04/2022] [Indexed: 05/03/2023]
Abstract
Coordinated responses in eusocial insect colonies arise from worker interaction networks that enable collective processing of ecologically relevant information. Previous studies have detected a structural motif in these networks known as the feed-forward loop, which functions to process information in other biological regulatory networks (e.g. transcriptional networks). However, the processes that generate feed-forward loops among workers and the consequences for information flow within the colony remain largely unexplored. We constructed an agent-based model to investigate how individual variation in activity and movement shaped the production of feed-forward loops in a simulated insect colony. We hypothesized that individual variation along these axes would generate feed-forward loops by driving variation in interaction frequency among workers. We found that among-individual variation in activity drove over-representation of feed-forward loops in the interaction networks by determining the directionality of interactions. However, despite previous work linking feed-forward loops with efficient information transfer, activity variation did not promote faster or more efficient information flow, thus providing no support for the hypothesis that feed-forward loops reflect selection for enhanced collective functioning. Conversely, individual variation in movement trajectory, despite playing no role in generating feed-forward loops, promoted fast and efficient information flow by linking together otherwise unconnected regions of the nest.
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Affiliation(s)
- Carrie Easter
- School of Biology, University of Leeds, Leeds LS2 9JT, UK
| | - Ellouise Leadbeater
- Department of Biological Sciences, Royal Holloway, University of London, Egham TW20 0EX, UK
| | - Matthew J. Hasenjager
- Department of Biological Sciences, Royal Holloway, University of London, Egham TW20 0EX, UK
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22
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Naug D, Tait C. Slow-Fast Cognitive Phenotypes and Their Significance for Social Behavior: What Can We Learn From Honeybees? Front Ecol Evol 2021. [DOI: 10.3389/fevo.2021.766414] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/18/2022] Open
Abstract
Cognitive variation is proposed to be the fundamental underlying factor that drives behavioral variation, yet it is still to be fully integrated with the observed variation at other phenotypic levels that has recently been unified under the common pace-of-life framework. This cognitive and the resulting behavioral diversity is especially significant in the context of a social group, the performance of which is a collective outcome of this diversity. In this review, we argue about the utility of classifying cognitive traits along a slow-fast continuum in the larger context of the pace-of-life framework. Using Tinbergen’s explanatory framework for different levels of analyses and drawing from the large body of knowledge about honeybee behavior, we discuss the observed interindividual variation in cognitive traits and slow-fast cognitive phenotypes from an adaptive, evolutionary, mechanistic and developmental perspective. We discuss the challenges in this endeavor and suggest possible next steps in terms of methodological, statistical and theoretical approaches to move the field forward for an integrative understanding of how slow-fast cognitive differences, by influencing collective behavior, impact social evolution.
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23
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Walsh JT, Garonski A, Jackan C, Linksvayer TA. The Collective Behavior of Ant Groups Depends on Group Genotypic Composition. J Hered 2021; 113:102-108. [PMID: 34634803 DOI: 10.1093/jhered/esab045] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/30/2021] [Accepted: 08/06/2021] [Indexed: 11/12/2022] Open
Abstract
Recently, researchers have documented variation between groups in collective behavior. However, how genetic variation within and between groups contributes to population-level variation for collective behavior remains unclear. Understanding how genetic variation of group members relates to group-level phenotypes is evolutionarily important because there is increasing evidence that group-level behavioral variation influences fitness and that the genetic architecture of group-level traits can affect the evolutionary dynamics of traits. Social insects are ideal for studying the complex relationship between individual and group-level variation because they exhibit behavioral variation at multiple scales of organization. To explore how the genetic composition of groups affects collective behavior, we constructed groups of pharaoh ants (Monomorium pharaonis) from 33 genetically distinct colonies of known pedigree. The groups consisted of either all workers from the same single colony or workers from two genetically different colonies, and we assayed the exploration and aggression of the groups. We found that collective exploration, but not aggression, depended on the specific genotypic combination of group members, i.e., we found evidence for genotype-by-genotype epistasis for exploration. Group collective behavior did not depend on the pedigree relatedness between genotypes within groups. Overall, this study highlights that specific combinations of genotypes influence group-level phenotypes, emphasizing the importance of considering nonadditive effects of genotypic interactions between group members.
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Affiliation(s)
- Justin T Walsh
- Department of Biology, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA
| | - Anna Garonski
- Department of Biology, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA
| | - Claire Jackan
- Department of Biology, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA
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24
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Individual differences in proactive interference in rats (Rattus Norvegicus). Psychon Bull Rev 2021; 29:203-211. [PMID: 34561853 PMCID: PMC8858310 DOI: 10.3758/s13423-021-01998-7] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 08/22/2021] [Indexed: 11/08/2022]
Abstract
Individual differences in behaviors are seen across many species, and investigations have focused on traits linked to aggression, risk taking, emotionality, coping styles, and differences in cognitive systems. The current study investigated whether there were individual differences in proactive interference tasks in rats (Rattus Norvegicus), and tested hypotheses suggesting that these tasks should load onto a single factor and there should be clusters of rats who perform well or poorly on these tasks. The performance of 39 rats was tested across three learning tasks that all involved disengagement from an irrelevant previously learned stimulus to a relevant stimulus: latent inhibition (LI), partial reinforcement extinction effect (PREE), and reversal learning (RL). An exploratory factor analysis revealed the existence of one factor underlying performance. A cluster analysis revealed the existence of sets of rats displaying either weak LI and strong PREE and RL effects, or vice versa. These findings suggest that proactive interference may be based on a single underlying psychological system in rats.
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25
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Cassidy ST, Chapa J, Tran TA, Dolezal N, Gerena C, Johnson G, Leyva A, Stein S, Wright CM, Keiser CN. Disease defences across levels of biological organization: individual and social immunity in acorn ants. Anim Behav 2021. [DOI: 10.1016/j.anbehav.2021.06.028] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/20/2022]
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26
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McEntire KD, Gage M, Gawne R, Hadfield MG, Hulshof C, Johnson MA, Levesque DL, Segura J, Pinter-Wollman N. Understanding Drivers of Variation and Predicting Variability Across Levels of Biological Organization. Integr Comp Biol 2021; 61:2119-2131. [PMID: 34259842 DOI: 10.1093/icb/icab160] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/27/2021] [Revised: 07/06/2021] [Accepted: 07/12/2021] [Indexed: 12/27/2022] Open
Abstract
Differences within a biological system are ubiquitous, creating variation in nature. Variation underlies all evolutionary processes and allows persistence and resilience in changing environments; thus, uncovering the drivers of variation is critical. The growing recognition that variation is central to biology presents a timely opportunity for determining unifying principles that drive variation across biological levels of organization. Currently, most studies that consider variation are focused at a single biological level and not integrated into a broader perspective. Here we explain what variation is and how it can be measured. We then discuss the importance of variation in natural systems, and briefly describe the biological research that has focused on variation. We outline some of the barriers and solutions to studying variation and its drivers in biological systems. Finally, we detail the challenges and opportunities that may arise when studying the drivers of variation due to the multi-level nature of biological systems. Examining the drivers of variation will lead to a reintegration of biology. It will further forge interdisciplinary collaborations and open opportunities for training diverse quantitative biologists. We anticipate that these insights will inspire new questions and new analytic tools to study the fundamental questions of what drives variation in biological systems and how variation has shaped life.
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Affiliation(s)
| | | | | | | | | | | | - Danielle L Levesque
- University of Maine College of Natural Sciences Forestry and Agriculture, School of Biology and Ecology
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27
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McMahon EK, Cavigelli SA. Gaps to Address in Ecological Studies of Temperament and Physiology. Integr Comp Biol 2021; 61:1917-1932. [PMID: 34097030 DOI: 10.1093/icb/icab118] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/23/2022] Open
Abstract
Ecology is a diverse field with many researchers interested in drivers and consequences of variability within populations. Two aspects of variability that have been addressed are behavioral and physiological. While these have been shown to separately influence ecological outcomes such as survival, reproductive success and fitness, combined they could better predict within-population variability in survival and fitness. Recently there has been a focus on potential fitness outcomes of consistent behavioral traits that are referred to as personality or temperament (e.g. boldness, sociability, exploration, etc.). Given this recent focus, it is an optimal time to identify areas to supplement in this field, particularly in determining the relationship between temperament and physiological traits. To maximize progress, in this perspective paper we propose that the following two areas be addressed: (1) increased diversity of species, and (2) increased number of physiological processes studied, with an eye toward using more representative and relatively consistent measures across studies. We first highlight information that has been gleaned from species that are frequently studied to determine how animal personality relates to physiology and/or survival/fitness. We then shine a spotlight on important taxa that have been understudied and that can contribute meaningful, complementary information to this area of research. And last, we propose a brief array of physiological processes to relate to temperament, and that can significantly impact fitness, and that may be accessible in field studies.
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Affiliation(s)
- Elyse K McMahon
- Ecology Graduate Program, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA 16802, USA.,Center for Brain, Behavior, and Cognition, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA 16802, USA.,Department of Biobehavioral Health, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA 16802, USA
| | - Sonia A Cavigelli
- Center for Brain, Behavior, and Cognition, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA 16802, USA.,Department of Biobehavioral Health, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA 16802, USA
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28
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Reznikova Z. Ants’ Personality and Its Dependence on Foraging Styles: Research Perspectives. Front Ecol Evol 2021. [DOI: 10.3389/fevo.2021.661066] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/29/2022] Open
Abstract
The paper is devoted to analyzing consistent individual differences in behavior, also known as “personalities,” in the context of a vital ant task—the detection and transportation of food. I am trying to elucidate the extent to which collective cognition is individual-based and whether a single individual’s actions can suffice to direct the entire colony or colony units. The review analyzes personalities in various insects with different life cycles and provides new insights into the role of individuals in directing group actions in ants. Although it is widely accepted that, in eusocial insects, colony personality emerges from the workers’ personalities, there are only a few examples of investigations of personality at the individual level. The central question of the review is how the distribution of behavioral types and cognitive responsibilities within ant colonies depends on a species’ foraging style. In the context of how workers’ behavioral traits display during foraging, a crucial question is what makes an ant a scout that discovers a new food source and mobilizes its nestmates. In mass recruiting, tandem-running, and even in group-recruiting species displaying leadership, the division of labor between scouts and recruits appears to be ephemeral. There is only little, if any, evidence of ants’ careers and behavioral consistency as leaders. Personal traits characterize groups of individuals at the colony level but not performers of functional roles during foraging. The leader-scouting seems to be the only known system that is based on a consistent personal difference between scouting and foraging individuals.
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29
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Japyassú HF, Neco LC, Nunes-Neto N. Minimal Organizational Requirements for the Ascription of Animal Personality to Social Groups. Front Psychol 2021; 11:601937. [PMID: 33995158 PMCID: PMC8116521 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2020.601937] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/02/2020] [Accepted: 11/24/2020] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Recently, psychological phenomena have been expanded to new domains, crisscrossing boundaries of organizational levels, with the emergence of areas such as social personality and ecosystem learning. In this contribution, we analyze the ascription of an individual-based concept (personality) to the social level. Although justified boundary crossings can boost new approaches and applications, the indiscriminate misuse of concepts refrains the growth of scientific areas. The concept of social personality is based mainly on the detection of repeated group differences across a population, in a direct transposition of personality concepts from the individual to the social level. We show that this direct transposition is problematic for avowing the nonsensical ascription of personality even to simple electronic devices. To go beyond a metaphoric use of social personality, we apply the organizational approach to a review of social insect communication networks. Our conceptual analysis shows that socially self-organized systems, such as isolated ant trails and bee's recruitment groups, are too simple to have social personality. The situation is more nuanced when measuring the collective choice between nest sites or foraging patches: some species show positive and negative feedbacks between two or more self-organized social structures so that these co-dependent structures are inter-related by second-order, social information systems, complying with a formal requirement for having social personality: the social closure of constraints. Other requirements include the decoupling between individual and social dynamics, and the self-regulation of collective decision processes. Social personality results to be sometimes a metaphorical transposition of a psychological concept to a social phenomenon. The application of this organizational approach to cases of learning ecosystems, or evolutionary learning, could help to ground theoretically the ascription of psychological properties to levels of analysis beyond the individual, up to meta-populations or ecological communities.
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Affiliation(s)
- Hilton F Japyassú
- National Institute of Science and Technology in Interdisciplinary and Transdisciplinary Studies in Ecology and Evolution (INCT IN-TREE), Federal University of Bahia, Salvador, Brazil.,Biology Institute, Federal University of Bahia, Salvador, Brazil
| | - Lucia C Neco
- School of Humanities, University of Western Australia, Perth, WA, Australia
| | - Nei Nunes-Neto
- National Institute of Science and Technology in Interdisciplinary and Transdisciplinary Studies in Ecology and Evolution (INCT IN-TREE), Federal University of Bahia, Salvador, Brazil.,Faculty of Biological and Environmental Sciences, Federal University of Grande Dourados, Dourados, Brazil
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30
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Ghosh P, Cronin AL. Collective decision‐making, caste roles and sequential transport during colony emigration in the small carpenter ant,
Camponotus yamaokai. Ethology 2021. [DOI: 10.1111/eth.13140] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Purbayan Ghosh
- Department of Biological Sciences Indian Institute of Science Education and Research Kolkata India
| | - Adam L. Cronin
- Department of Biology Tokyo Metropolitan University Tokyo Japan
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31
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Planas-Sitjà I, Deneubourg JL, Cronin AL. Variation in personality can substitute for social feedback in coordinated animal movements. Commun Biol 2021; 4:469. [PMID: 33850250 PMCID: PMC8044162 DOI: 10.1038/s42003-021-01991-9] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/01/2020] [Accepted: 03/11/2021] [Indexed: 12/12/2022] Open
Abstract
Collective movements are essential for the effective function of animal societies, but are complicated by the need for consensus among group members. Consensus is typically assumed to arise via feedback mechanisms, but this ignores inter-individual variation in behavioural tendency ('personality'), which is known to underpin the successful function of many complex societies. In this study, we use a theoretical approach to examine the relative importance of personality and feedback in the emergence of collective movement decisions in animal groups. Our results show that variation in personality dramatically influences collective decisions and can partially or completely replace feedback depending on the directionality of relationships among individuals. The influence of personality increases with the exaggeration of differences among individuals. While it is likely that both feedback and personality interact in nature, our findings highlight the potential importance of personality in driving collective processes.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Jean-Louis Deneubourg
- Center of Nonlinear Phenomena and Complex Systems (CENOLI) - CP 231, Université libre de Bruxelles, Bruxelles, Belgium
| | - Adam L Cronin
- Department of Biology, Tokyo Metropolitan University, Tokyo, Japan
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32
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Hernández Duran L, Wilson DT, Briffa M, Rymer TL. Beyond spider personality: The relationships between behavioral, physiological, and environmental factors. Ecol Evol 2021; 11:2974-2989. [PMID: 33841759 PMCID: PMC8019048 DOI: 10.1002/ece3.7243] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/25/2020] [Accepted: 01/08/2021] [Indexed: 12/27/2022] Open
Abstract
Spiders are useful models for testing different hypotheses and methodologies relating to animal personality and behavioral syndromes because they show a range of behavioral types and unique physiological traits (e.g., silk and venom) that are not observed in many other animals. These characteristics allow for a unique understanding of how physiology, behavioral plasticity, and personality interact across different contexts to affect spider's individual fitness and survival. However, the relative effect of extrinsic factors on physiological traits (silk, venom, and neurohormones) that play an important role in spider survival, and which may impact personality, has received less attention. The goal of this review is to explore how the environment, experience, ontogeny, and physiology interact to affect spider personality types across different contexts. We highlight physiological traits, such as neurohormones, and unique spider biochemical weapons, namely silks and venoms, to explore how the use of these traits might, or might not, be constrained or limited by particular behavioral types. We argue that, to develop a comprehensive understanding of the flexibility and persistence of specific behavioral types in spiders, it is necessary to incorporate these underlying mechanisms into a synthesized whole, alongside other extrinsic and intrinsic factors.
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Affiliation(s)
- Linda Hernández Duran
- College of Science and EngineeringJames Cook UniversityCairnsQldAustralia
- Centre for Tropical Environmental and Sustainability SciencesJames Cook UniversityCairnsQldAustralia
| | - David Thomas Wilson
- Centre for Molecular TherapeuticsAustralian Institute for Tropical Health and MedicineJames Cook UniversityCairnsQldAustralia
| | - Mark Briffa
- School of Biological and Marine SciencesPlymouth UniversityPlymouthUK
| | - Tasmin Lee Rymer
- College of Science and EngineeringJames Cook UniversityCairnsQldAustralia
- Centre for Tropical Environmental and Sustainability SciencesJames Cook UniversityCairnsQldAustralia
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33
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Han B, Wei Q, Wu F, Hu H, Ma C, Meng L, Zhang X, Feng M, Fang Y, Rueppell O, Li J. Tachykinin signaling inhibits task-specific behavioral responsiveness in honeybee workers. eLife 2021; 10:64830. [PMID: 33760729 PMCID: PMC8016481 DOI: 10.7554/elife.64830] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/12/2020] [Accepted: 03/23/2021] [Indexed: 12/11/2022] Open
Abstract
Behavioral specialization is key to the success of social insects and leads to division of labor among colony members. Response thresholds to task-specific stimuli are thought to proximally regulate behavioral specialization, but their neurobiological regulation is complex and not well understood. Here, we show that response thresholds to task-relevant stimuli correspond to the specialization of three behavioral phenotypes of honeybee workers in the well-studied and important Apis mellifera and Apis cerana. Quantitative neuropeptidome comparisons suggest two tachykinin-related peptides (TRP2 and TRP3) as candidates for the modification of these response thresholds. Based on our characterization of their receptor binding and downstream signaling, we confirm a functional role of tachykinin signaling in regulating specific responsiveness of honeybee workers: TRP2 injection and RNAi-mediated downregulation cause consistent, opposite effects on responsiveness to task-specific stimuli of each behaviorally specialized phenotype but not to stimuli that are unrelated to their tasks. Thus, our study demonstrates that TRP signaling regulates the degree of task-specific responsiveness of specialized honeybee workers and may control the context specificity of behavior in animals more generally.
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Affiliation(s)
- Bin Han
- Institute of Apicultural Research/Key Laboratory of Pollinating Insect Biology, Ministry of Agriculture, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Science, Beijing, China.,Department of Biology, University of North Carolina Greensboro, Greensboro, United States
| | - Qiaohong Wei
- Institute of Apicultural Research/Key Laboratory of Pollinating Insect Biology, Ministry of Agriculture, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Science, Beijing, China
| | - Fan Wu
- Institute of Apicultural Research/Key Laboratory of Pollinating Insect Biology, Ministry of Agriculture, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Science, Beijing, China.,Biometrology and Inspection & Quarantine, College of Life Science, China Jiliang University, Hangzhou, China
| | - Han Hu
- Institute of Apicultural Research/Key Laboratory of Pollinating Insect Biology, Ministry of Agriculture, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Science, Beijing, China
| | - Chuan Ma
- Institute of Apicultural Research/Key Laboratory of Pollinating Insect Biology, Ministry of Agriculture, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Science, Beijing, China
| | - Lifeng Meng
- Institute of Apicultural Research/Key Laboratory of Pollinating Insect Biology, Ministry of Agriculture, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Science, Beijing, China
| | - Xufeng Zhang
- Institute of Apicultural Research/Key Laboratory of Pollinating Insect Biology, Ministry of Agriculture, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Science, Beijing, China.,Institute of Horticultural Research, Shanxi Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Shanxi Agricultural University, Taiyuan, China
| | - Mao Feng
- Institute of Apicultural Research/Key Laboratory of Pollinating Insect Biology, Ministry of Agriculture, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Science, Beijing, China
| | - Yu Fang
- Institute of Apicultural Research/Key Laboratory of Pollinating Insect Biology, Ministry of Agriculture, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Science, Beijing, China
| | - Olav Rueppell
- Department of Biology, University of North Carolina Greensboro, Greensboro, United States.,Department of Biological Sciences, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Canada
| | - Jianke Li
- Institute of Apicultural Research/Key Laboratory of Pollinating Insect Biology, Ministry of Agriculture, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Science, Beijing, China
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34
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Loftus JC, Perez AA, Sih A. Task syndromes: linking personality and task allocation in social animal groups. Behav Ecol 2021; 32:1-17. [PMID: 33708004 PMCID: PMC7937036 DOI: 10.1093/beheco/araa083] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/07/2018] [Revised: 08/04/2020] [Accepted: 08/07/2020] [Indexed: 11/12/2022] Open
Abstract
Studies of eusocial insects have extensively investigated two components of task allocation: how individuals distribute themselves among different tasks in a colony and how the distribution of labor changes to meet fluctuating task demand. While discrete age- and morphologically-based task allocation systems explain much of the social order in these colonies, the basis for task allocation in non-eusocial organisms and within eusocial castes remains unknown. Building from recent advances in the study of among-individual variation in behavior (i.e., animal personalities), we explore a potential mechanism by which individuality in behaviors unrelated to tasks can guide the developmental trajectories that lead to task specialization. We refer to the task-based behavioral syndrome that results from the correlation between the antecedent behavioral tendencies and task participation as a task syndrome. In this review, we present a framework that integrates concepts from a long history of task allocation research in eusocial organisms with recent findings from animal personality research to elucidate how task syndromes and resulting task allocation might manifest in animal groups. By drawing upon an extensive and diverse literature to evaluate the hypothesized framework, this review identifies future areas for study at the intersection of social behavior and animal personality.
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Affiliation(s)
- J C Loftus
- Department of Anthropology, University of California at Davis, Davis, CA, USA.,Department for the Ecology of Animal Societies, Max Planck Institute of Animal Behavior, Radolfzell, Germany.,Department of Biology, University of Konstanz, Konstanz, Germany.,Centre for the Advanced Study of Collective Behaviour, University of Konstanz, Konstanz, Germany
| | - A A Perez
- Department of Entomology, University of California at Davis, Davis, CA, USA
| | - A Sih
- Department of Environmental Science and Policy, University of California at Davis, Davis, CA, USA
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35
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Pinter-Wollman N. Proximate and ultimate processes may explain “task syndromes”: a comment on Loftus et al. Behav Ecol 2021. [DOI: 10.1093/beheco/araa126] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Affiliation(s)
- Noa Pinter-Wollman
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, USA
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36
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Cabrera D, Nilsson JR, Griffen BD. The development of animal personality across ontogeny: a cross-species review. Anim Behav 2021. [DOI: 10.1016/j.anbehav.2021.01.003] [Citation(s) in RCA: 29] [Impact Index Per Article: 9.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/07/2023]
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37
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Gandra LC, Amaral KD, Couceiro JC, Guedes RN, Della Lucia TM. Does resource-mediated stress affect colony personality in leaf-cutting ants? PEST MANAGEMENT SCIENCE 2021; 77:96-103. [PMID: 32770614 DOI: 10.1002/ps.6033] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/20/2020] [Revised: 07/30/2020] [Accepted: 08/07/2020] [Indexed: 06/11/2023]
Abstract
BACKGROUND Animal personality refers to behavioral consistency and propensity. In social insects, little is known about the interplay between colony personality and colony foraging. This study aimed to assess personality traits among colonies of the leaf-cutting ants Acromyrmex subterraneus subterraneus and Acromyrmex subterraneus molestans and examine their behavioral consistency when provided with a toxic substrate, nasturtium leaves [Tropaeolum majus L. (Tropaeolaceae)], with potential as a management tool against these pest species. The association between colony behavioral traits and fungus garden growth was also examined, and thus the efficacy of the colony suppression. RESULTS Behavioral variation was higher between colonies than between subspecies. Behavioral traits were correlated before and after exposure to resource-mediated stress in both subspecies, indicating the existence of behavioral syndrome. The dimensions that contributed most to colony personality (activity, aggressiveness, and boldness) are directly related to colony resource searching and foraging. However, these dimensions diverged in their contribution before and after exposure to nasturtium. Colony activity was the major determinant of fungus garden growth, which is probably a consequence of its relationship with foraging behaviors and maintenance of the fungus garden. CONCLUSION As the personality of a colony is unequally defined by its constituent castes, the relationship and network of interactions are determinants of foraging behaviors with relevant consequences for colony suppression using toxic foraging substrates that impair these relationships and interactions, as nasturtium leaves do. Therefore, it is plausible to say that resource-mediated stress affects colonies personality exhibiting control potential against these species.
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Affiliation(s)
- Lailla C Gandra
- Instituto de Ciências Biológicas e da Saúde, Universidade Federal de Viçosa - Campus Florestal, Florestal, Brazil
| | - Karina D Amaral
- Departamento de Entomologia, Universidade Federal de Viçosa, Viçosa, Brazil
| | - Joel C Couceiro
- Departamento de Entomologia, Universidade Federal de Viçosa, Viçosa, Brazil
| | - Raul Nc Guedes
- Departamento de Entomologia, Universidade Federal de Viçosa, Viçosa, Brazil
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38
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Maák I, Trigos-Peral G, Ślipiński P, Grześ IM, Horváth G, Witek M. Habitat features and colony characteristics influencing ant personality and its fitness consequences. Behav Ecol 2020; 32:124-137. [PMID: 33708007 PMCID: PMC7937185 DOI: 10.1093/beheco/araa112] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/22/2019] [Revised: 08/22/2020] [Accepted: 10/01/2020] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Several factors can influence individual and group behavioral variation that can have important fitness consequences. In this study, we tested how two habitat types (seminatural meadows and meadows invaded by Solidago plants) and factors like colony and worker size and nest density influence behavioral (activity, meanderness, exploration, aggression, and nest displacement) variation on different levels of the social organization of Myrmica rubra ants and how these might affect the colony productivity. We assumed that the factors within the two habitat types exert different selective pressures on individual and colony behavioral variation that affects colony productivity. Our results showed individual-/colony-specific expression of both mean and residual behavioral variation of the studied behavioral traits. Although habitat type did not have any direct effect, habitat-dependent factors, like colony size and nest density influenced the individual mean and residual variation of several traits. We also found personality at the individual-level and at the colony level. Exploration positively influenced the total- and worker production in both habitats. Worker aggression influenced all the productivity parameters in seminatural meadows, whereas activity had a positive effect on the worker and total production in invaded meadows. Our results suggest that habitat type, through its environmental characteristics, can affect different behavioral traits both at the individual and colony level and that those with the strongest effect on colony productivity primarily shape the personality of individuals. Our results highlight the need for complex environmental manipulations to fully understand the effects shaping behavior and reproduction in colony-living species.
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Affiliation(s)
- István Maák
- Museum and Institute of Zoology, Polish Academy of Science, Wilcza 64, Warszawa, Poland
| | - Gema Trigos-Peral
- Museum and Institute of Zoology, Polish Academy of Science, Wilcza 64, Warszawa, Poland
| | - Piotr Ślipiński
- Museum and Institute of Zoology, Polish Academy of Science, Wilcza 64, Warszawa, Poland
| | - Irena M Grześ
- Department of Environmental Zoology, Institute of Animal Sciences, Agricultural University, Al. Mickiewicza 24/28, Kraków, Poland
| | - Gergely Horváth
- Behavioural Ecology Group, Department of Systematic Zoology and Ecology, ELTE Eötvös Loránd University, Egyetem tér 1-3, Budapest, Hungary
| | - Magdalena Witek
- Museum and Institute of Zoology, Polish Academy of Science, Wilcza 64, Warszawa, Poland
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39
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Walsh JT, Garnier S, Linksvayer TA. Ant Collective Behavior Is Heritable and Shaped by Selection. Am Nat 2020; 196:541-554. [PMID: 33064586 DOI: 10.1086/710709] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/03/2022]
Abstract
AbstractCollective behaviors are widespread in nature and usually assumed to be strongly shaped by natural selection. However, the degree to which variation in collective behavior is heritable and has fitness consequences-the two prerequisites for evolution by natural selection-is largely unknown. We used a new pharaoh ant (Monomorium pharaonis) mapping population to estimate the heritability, genetic correlations, and fitness consequences of three collective behaviors (foraging, aggression, and exploration), as well as of body size, sex ratio, and caste ratio. Heritability estimates for the collective behaviors were moderate, ranging from 0.17 to 0.32, but lower than our estimates for the heritability of caste ratio, sex ratio, and body size of new workers, queens, and males. Moreover, variation in collective behaviors among colonies was phenotypically correlated, suggesting that selection may shape multiple colony collective behaviors simultaneously. Finally, we found evidence for directional selection that was similar in strength to estimates of selection in natural populations. Altogether, our study begins to elucidate the genetic architecture of collective behavior and is one of the first studies to demonstrate that it is shaped by selection.
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40
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Dhar G, Bag J, Mishra M. Environmental cue affects the hearing-related behaviors of Drosophila melanogaster by targeting the redox pathways. ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE AND POLLUTION RESEARCH INTERNATIONAL 2020; 27:32899-32912. [PMID: 32524398 DOI: 10.1007/s11356-020-09141-0] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/22/2020] [Accepted: 04/30/2020] [Indexed: 06/11/2023]
Abstract
Environmental cues like noise, pressure, and circadian rhythm can affect the hearing ability of human beings. Nevertheless, the complex physiology of the human being does not allow us to understand how these factors can affect hearing and hearing-related behaviors. Conversely, these effects can be easily checked using the hearing organ of Drosophila melanogaster, the Johnston organ. In the current study, the Drosophila was exposed to challenging environments like noise, low pressure, and altered circadian rhythm. The hearing organ of larvae, as well as adults, was analyzed for hearing-related defects. In the third instar larva, the cell deaths were detected in the antenna imaginal disc, the precursor of Johnston's organ. Elevated levels of reactive oxygen species and antioxidant enzymes were also detected in the adult antennae of environmentally challenged flies. The ultrastructure of the antennae suggests the presence of abundant mitochondria in the scolopidia of control. Fewer amounts of mitochondria are found in the environmentally challenged adult antennae. In adults, various hearing-related behaviors were analyzed as a readout of functionality of the hearing organ. Analysis of climbing, aggressive, and courtship behaviors suggests abnormal behavior in environmentally challenged flies than the control. The current study suggests that the environmental cues can alter hearing-related behaviors in Drosophila. The methods used in this study can be used to monitor the environmental pollution or to study the effect of alteration of noise, pressure, and circadian rhythm on hearing-related behaviors taking Drosophila melanogaster as a model organism. Graphical abstract.
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Affiliation(s)
- Gyanaseni Dhar
- Department of Life Science, Neural Developmental Biology Lab, NIT Rourkela, Rourkela, Odisha, India
| | - Janmejaya Bag
- Department of Life Science, Neural Developmental Biology Lab, NIT Rourkela, Rourkela, Odisha, India
| | - Monalisa Mishra
- Department of Life Science, Neural Developmental Biology Lab, NIT Rourkela, Rourkela, Odisha, India.
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41
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Horváth G, Jiménez‐Robles O, Martín J, López P, De la Riva I, Herczeg G. Linking behavioral thermoregulation, boldness, and individual state in male Carpetan rock lizards. Ecol Evol 2020; 10:10230-10241. [PMID: 33005378 PMCID: PMC7520217 DOI: 10.1002/ece3.6685] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/26/2020] [Revised: 07/22/2020] [Accepted: 07/27/2020] [Indexed: 02/05/2023] Open
Abstract
Mechanisms affecting consistent interindividual behavioral variation (i.e., animal personality) are of wide scientific interest. In poikilotherms, ambient temperature is one of the most important environmental factors with a direct link to a variety of fitness-related traits. Recent empirical evidence suggests that individual differences in boldness are linked to behavioral thermoregulation strategy in heliothermic species, as individuals are regularly exposed to predators during basking. Here, we tested for links between behavioral thermoregulation strategy, boldness, and individual state in adult males of the high-mountain Carpetan rock lizard (Iberolacerta cyreni). Principal component analysis revealed the following latent links in our data: (i) a positive relationship of activity with relative limb length and color brightness (PC1, 23% variation explained), (ii) a negative relationship of thermoregulatory precision with parasite load and risk-taking (PC2, 20.98% variation explained), and (iii) a negative relationship between preferred body temperature and relative limb length (PC3, 19.23% variation explained). We conclude that differences in boldness and behavioral thermoregulatory strategy could be explained by both stable and labile state variables. The moderate link between behavioral thermoregulatory strategy and risk-taking personality in our system is plausibly the result of differences in reproductive state of individuals or variation in ecological conditions during the breeding season.
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Affiliation(s)
- Gergely Horváth
- Behavioural Ecology GroupDepartment of Systematic Zoology and EcologyEötvös Loránd UniversityBudapestHungary
| | - Octavio Jiménez‐Robles
- Department of Ecology and EvolutionResearch School of BiologyAustralian National UniversityCanberraAustralia
- Department of Biodiversity and Evolutionary BiologyMuseo Nacional de Ciencias NaturalesCSICMadridSpain
| | - José Martín
- Department of Evolutionary EcologyMuseo Nacional de Ciencias NaturalesCSICMadridSpain
| | - Pilar López
- Department of Evolutionary EcologyMuseo Nacional de Ciencias NaturalesCSICMadridSpain
| | - Ignacio De la Riva
- Department of Biodiversity and Evolutionary BiologyMuseo Nacional de Ciencias NaturalesCSICMadridSpain
| | - Gábor Herczeg
- Behavioural Ecology GroupDepartment of Systematic Zoology and EcologyEötvös Loránd UniversityBudapestHungary
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42
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Pacheco XP. How consistently do personality attributes relate to an individual’s position within a social network: a comparison across groups of captive meerkats. Behav Ecol Sociobiol 2020. [DOI: 10.1007/s00265-020-02880-7] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
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43
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Whittaker AL, Hickman DL. The Impact of Social and Behavioral Factors on Reproducibility in Terrestrial Vertebrate Models. ILAR J 2020; 60:252-269. [PMID: 32720675 DOI: 10.1093/ilar/ilaa005] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/12/2019] [Revised: 01/30/2020] [Accepted: 02/07/2020] [Indexed: 12/12/2022] Open
Abstract
The use of animal models remains critical in preclinical and translational research. The reliability of the animal models and aspects of their validity is likely key to effective translation of findings to medicine. However, despite considerable uniformity in animal models brought about by control of genetics, there remain a number of social as well as innate and acquired behavioral characteristics of laboratory animals that may impact on research outcomes. These include the effects of strain and genetics, age and development, sex, personality and affective states, and social factors largely brought about by housing and husbandry. In addition, aspects of the testing environment may also influence research findings. A number of considerations resulting from the animals' innate and acquired behavioral characteristics as well as their social structures are described. Suggestions for minimizing the impact of these factors on research are provided.
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Affiliation(s)
- Alexandra L Whittaker
- School of Animal and Veterinary Sciences, University of Adelaide, Roseworthy Campus, South Australia, Australia
| | - Debra L Hickman
- Laboratory Animal Resource Center, Indiana University, Indianapolis, Indiana
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Somogyi AÁ, Tartally A, Maák IE, Barta Z. Colony size, nestmate density and social history shape behavioural variation in
Formica fusca
colonies. Ethology 2020. [DOI: 10.1111/eth.13022] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/28/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Anna Ágnes Somogyi
- Department of Evolutionary Zoology and Human Biology University of Debrecen Debrecen Hungary
- Juhász-Nagy Pál Doctoral School University of Debrecen Debrecen Hungary
| | - András Tartally
- Department of Evolutionary Zoology and Human Biology University of Debrecen Debrecen Hungary
| | - István Elek Maák
- Department of Ecology University of Szeged Szeged Hungary
- Museum and Institute of Zoology Polish Academy of Sciences Warsaw Poland
| | - Zoltán Barta
- MTA‐DE Behavioural Ecology Research Group Department of Evolutionary Zoology and Human Biology University of Debrecen Debrecen Hungary
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45
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Friedman DA, Johnson BR, Linksvayer TA. Distributed physiology and the molecular basis of social life in eusocial insects. Horm Behav 2020; 122:104757. [PMID: 32305342 DOI: 10.1016/j.yhbeh.2020.104757] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/31/2019] [Revised: 03/30/2020] [Accepted: 04/06/2020] [Indexed: 12/24/2022]
Abstract
The traditional focus of physiological and functional genomic research is on molecular processes that play out within a single multicellular organism. In the colonial (eusocial) insects such as ants, bees, and termites, molecular and behavioral responses of interacting nestmates are tightly linked, and key physiological processes are regulated at the scale of the colony. Such colony-level physiological processes regulate nestmate physiology in a distributed fashion, through various social communication mechanisms. As a result of physiological decentralization over evolutionary time, organismal mechanisms, for example related to pheromone detection, hormone signaling, and neural signaling pathways, are deployed in novel contexts to influence nestmate and colony traits. Here we explore how functional genomic, physiological, and behavioral studies can benefit from considering the traits of eusocial insects in this light. We highlight functional genomic work exploring how nestmate-level and colony-level traits arise and are influenced by interactions among physiologically-specialized nestmates of various developmental stages. We also consider similarities and differences between nestmate-level (organismal) and colony-level (superorganismal) physiological processes, and make specific hypotheses regarding the physiology of eusocial taxa. Integrating theoretical models of distributed systems with empirical functional genomics approaches will be useful in addressing fundamental questions related to the evolution of eusociality and collective behavior in natural systems.
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Affiliation(s)
- D A Friedman
- University of California, Davis, Department of Entomology, Davis, CA 95616, United States of America.
| | - B R Johnson
- University of California, Davis, Department of Entomology, Davis, CA 95616, United States of America
| | - T A Linksvayer
- University of Pennsylvania, Department of Biology, Pennsylvania, PA 19104, United States of America
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46
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Planas-Sitjà I. Personality variation improves collective decision-making in cockroaches. Behav Processes 2020; 177:104147. [PMID: 32454182 DOI: 10.1016/j.beproc.2020.104147] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/14/2020] [Revised: 05/21/2020] [Accepted: 05/21/2020] [Indexed: 11/16/2022]
Abstract
Many animals live in groups and engage in collective actions which can enhance their fitness. One common example is collective decision-making, which mainly arises from social interactions that modify the individual behaviour. Despite the widespread interest in animal personalities on the one hand and in social effects (such as social organisation, social learning or anti-predator behaviour) on the other, the question of how the amount of among-individual differences, coupled with social interactions, influence group cohesion has rarely been addressed. For this purpose, I used a modelling approach based on aggregation behaviour of cockroaches to explore the mechanisms underlying such context-dependent behaviour. The results of simulations considering different degrees (none, medium, high) of personality variation in a non-social and social context were compared to experimental patterns of aggregation dynamics in cockroaches. The comparison between the simulated and experimental data show that only a model that considers differences in individuals was able to reproduce the experimental patterns of individuals and groups. In addition, the comparison between models suggest that some individuals may play a keystone role during aggregation dynamics, influencing the behaviour of others and facilitating the collective decision. Finally, I show that personality variation amplifies the effects of social inter-attractions, thus increasing the speed of aggregation, shedding light on the mechanisms underpinning social modification of individual behaviour.
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Affiliation(s)
- Isaac Planas-Sitjà
- Systematic Zoology Laboratory, Tokyo Metropolitan University, 1-1 Minami-Osawa, Hachioji, Tokyo, 192-0397, Japan.
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47
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Predictors of colony extinction vary by habitat type in social spiders. Behav Ecol Sociobiol 2020; 74. [PMID: 32431472 DOI: 10.1007/s00265-019-2781-x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/25/2022]
Abstract
Many animal societies are susceptible to mass mortality events and collapse. Elucidating how environmental pressures determine patterns of collapse is important for understanding how such societies function and evolve. Using the social spider Stegodyphus dumicola, we investigated the environmental drivers of colony extinction along two precipitation gradients across southern Africa, using the Namib and Kalahari deserts versus wetter savanna habitats to the north and east. We deployed experimental colonies (n = 242) along two ~ 800-km transects and returned to assess colony success in the field after 2 months. Specifically, we noted colony extinction events after the 2-month duration and collected environmental data on the correlates of those extinction events (e.g., evidence of ant attacks, no. of prey captured). We found that colony extinction events at desert sites were more frequently associated with attacks by predatory ants as compared with savanna sites, while colony extinctions in wetter savannas sites were more tightly associated with fungal outbreaks. Our findings support the hypothesis that environments vary in the selection pressures that they impose on social organisms, which may explain why different social phenotypes are often favored in each habitat.
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Roeder KA, Prather RM, Paraskevopoulos AW, Roeder DV. The Economics of Optimal Foraging by the Red Imported Fire Ant. ENVIRONMENTAL ENTOMOLOGY 2020; 49:304-311. [PMID: 32144932 DOI: 10.1093/ee/nvaa016] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/12/2019] [Indexed: 05/24/2023]
Abstract
For social organisms, foraging is often a complicated behavior where tasks are divided among numerous individuals. Here, we ask how one species, the red imported fire ant (Solenopsis invicta Buren) (Hymenoptera: Formicidae), collectively manages this behavior. We tested the Diminishing Returns Hypothesis, which posits that for social insects 1) foraging investment levels increase until diminishing gains result in a decelerating slope of return and 2) the level of investment is a function of the size of the collective group. We compared how different metrics of foraging (e.g., number of foragers, mass of foragers, and body size of foragers) are correlated and how these metrics change over time. We then tested the prediction that as fire ant colonies increase in size, both discovery time and the inflection point (i.e., the time point where colonial investment toward resources slows) should decrease while a colony's maximum foraging mass should increase. In congruence with our predictions, we found that fire ants recruited en masse toward baits, allocating 486 workers and 148 mg of biomass, on average, after 60 min: amounts that were not different 30 min prior. There was incredible variation across colonies with discovery time, the inflection point, and the maximum biomass of foragers all being significantly correlated with colony size. We suggest that biomass is a solid indicator of how social taxa invest their workforce toward resources and hypothesize ways that invasive fire ants are able to leverage their enormous workforce to dominate novel ecosystems by comparing their foraging and colony mass with co-occurring native species.
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Affiliation(s)
- Karl A Roeder
- Department of Entomology, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, IL
- Department of Biology, University of Oklahoma, Norman, OK
| | | | | | - Diane V Roeder
- Department of Agriculture, Biology and Health Sciences, Cameron University, Lawton, OK
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Valentini G, Masuda N, Shaffer Z, Hanson JR, Sasaki T, Walker SI, Pavlic TP, Pratt SC. Division of labour promotes the spread of information in colony emigrations by the ant Temnothorax rugatulus. Proc Biol Sci 2020; 287:20192950. [PMID: 32228408 PMCID: PMC7209055 DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2019.2950] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/19/2019] [Accepted: 03/06/2020] [Indexed: 01/23/2023] Open
Abstract
The fitness of group-living animals often depends on how well members share information needed for collective decision-making. Theoretical studies have shown that collective choices can emerge in a homogeneous group of individuals following identical rules, but real animals show much evidence for heterogeneity in the degree and nature of their contribution to group decisions. In social insects, for example, the transmission and processing of information is influenced by a well-organized division of labour. Studies that accurately quantify how this behavioural heterogeneity affects the spread of information among group members are still lacking. In this paper, we look at nest choices during colony emigrations of the ant Temnothorax rugatulus and quantify the degree of behavioural heterogeneity of workers. Using clustering methods and network analysis, we identify and characterize four behavioural castes of workers-primary, secondary, passive and wandering-covering distinct roles in the spread of information during an emigration. This detailed characterization of the contribution of each worker can improve models of collective decision-making in this species and promises a deeper understanding of behavioural variation at the colony level.
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Affiliation(s)
- Gabriele Valentini
- School of Earth and Space Exploration, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ 85287, USA
- School of Life Sciences, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ 85287, USA
| | - Naoki Masuda
- Department of Mathematics, State University of New York, Buffalo, NY 14260, USA
- Computational and Data-Enabled Science and Engineering Program, University at Buffalo, State University of New York, Buffalo, NY 14260, USA
| | - Zachary Shaffer
- School of Life Sciences, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ 85287, USA
| | - Jake R. Hanson
- School of Earth and Space Exploration, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ 85287, USA
- Beyond Center for Fundamental Concepts in Science, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ 85287, USA
| | - Takao Sasaki
- Odum School of Ecology, University of Georgia, Athens, GA 30602, USA
| | - Sara Imari Walker
- School of Earth and Space Exploration, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ 85287, USA
- Beyond Center for Fundamental Concepts in Science, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ 85287, USA
- ASU–SFI Center for Biosocial Complex Systems, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ 85287, USA
| | - Theodore P. Pavlic
- School of Life Sciences, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ 85287, USA
- Beyond Center for Fundamental Concepts in Science, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ 85287, USA
- ASU–SFI Center for Biosocial Complex Systems, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ 85287, USA
- School of Computing, Informatics, and Decision Systems Engineering, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ 85287, USA
- School of Sustainability, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ 85287, USA
| | - Stephen C. Pratt
- School of Life Sciences, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ 85287, USA
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Hunt ER. Phenotypic Plasticity Provides a Bioinspiration Framework for Minimal Field Swarm Robotics. Front Robot AI 2020; 7:23. [PMID: 33501192 PMCID: PMC7805735 DOI: 10.3389/frobt.2020.00023] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/22/2019] [Accepted: 02/11/2020] [Indexed: 12/02/2022] Open
Abstract
The real world is highly variable and unpredictable, and so fine-tuned robot controllers that successfully result in group-level "emergence" of swarm capabilities indoors may quickly become inadequate outside. One response to unpredictability could be greater robot complexity and cost, but this seems counter to the "swarm philosophy" of deploying (very) large numbers of simple agents. Instead, here I argue that bioinspiration in swarm robotics has considerable untapped potential in relation to the phenomenon of phenotypic plasticity: when a genotype can produce a range of distinctive changes in organismal behavior, physiology and morphology in response to different environments. This commonly arises following a natural history of variable conditions; implying the need for more diverse and hazardous simulated environments in offline, pre-deployment optimization of swarms. This will generate-indicate the need for-plasticity. Biological plasticity is sometimes irreversible; yet this characteristic remains relevant in the context of minimal swarms, where robots may become mass-producible. Plasticity can be introduced through the greater use of adaptive threshold-based behaviors; more fundamentally, it can link to emerging technologies such as smart materials, which can adapt form and function to environmental conditions. Moreover, in social animals, individual heterogeneity is increasingly recognized as functional for the group. Phenotypic plasticity can provide meaningful diversity "for free" based on early, local sensory experience, contributing toward better collective decision-making and resistance against adversarial agents, for example. Nature has already solved the challenge of resilient self-organisation in the physical realm through phenotypic plasticity: swarm engineers can follow this lead.
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Affiliation(s)
- Edmund R. Hunt
- Department of Engineering Mathematics, University of Bristol, Bristol, United Kingdom
- Bristol Robotics Laboratory, University of the West of England, Bristol, United Kingdom
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