Effect of the land area elevation on the collective choice in ants

Abstract Collective decisions regarding food source exploitation in social insects are influenced by a range of parameters, from source quality to individual preference and social information sharing. Those regarding the elevation of the physical trail towards a food source have been neglected. In t...

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Autores principales:	Olivier Bles, Nathanaël Lozet, Jean-Christophe de Biseau, Alexandre Campo, Jean-Louis Deneubourg
Formato:	article
Lenguaje:	EN
Publicado:	Nature Portfolio 2017
Materias:	Medicine R Science Q
Acceso en línea:	https://doaj.org/article/38916fcc8ec746b5b57e2f49ec783d73
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spelling	oai:doaj.org-article:38916fcc8ec746b5b57e2f49ec783d732021-12-02T15:04:52ZEffect of the land area elevation on the collective choice in ants10.1038/s41598-017-08592-92045-2322https://doaj.org/article/38916fcc8ec746b5b57e2f49ec783d732017-08-01T00:00:00Zhttps://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-017-08592-9https://doaj.org/toc/2045-2322Abstract Collective decisions regarding food source exploitation in social insects are influenced by a range of parameters, from source quality to individual preference and social information sharing. Those regarding the elevation of the physical trail towards a food source have been neglected. In this work, we investigated the effect of ascending and descending paths from the nest to a food source on collective choice in two ant species Lasius niger and Myrmica rubra. Our hypothesis that returning loaded with food from the high source is more energy efficient was validated by choice experiments: when the sources are simultaneously introduced the high food source is preferentially exploited by both species. The flexibility of colony response was then tested by introducing the preferred source (high) incidentally, after recruitment towards the down food source began. Despite the well-known lack of flexibility of L. niger, both species showed the ability to reallocate their foraging workforce towards the highest food source. The collective choice and the flexibility are based on the difference between the u-turn rates when foragers are facing the ascending or descending branch. We discuss these results in terms of species-specifics characteristics and ecological context.Olivier BlesNathanaël LozetJean-Christophe de BiseauAlexandre CampoJean-Louis DeneubourgNature PortfolioarticleMedicineRScienceQENScientific Reports, Vol 7, Iss 1, Pp 1-12 (2017)
institution	DOAJ
collection	DOAJ
language	EN
topic	Medicine R Science Q
spellingShingle	Medicine R Science Q Olivier Bles Nathanaël Lozet Jean-Christophe de Biseau Alexandre Campo Jean-Louis Deneubourg Effect of the land area elevation on the collective choice in ants
description	Abstract Collective decisions regarding food source exploitation in social insects are influenced by a range of parameters, from source quality to individual preference and social information sharing. Those regarding the elevation of the physical trail towards a food source have been neglected. In this work, we investigated the effect of ascending and descending paths from the nest to a food source on collective choice in two ant species Lasius niger and Myrmica rubra. Our hypothesis that returning loaded with food from the high source is more energy efficient was validated by choice experiments: when the sources are simultaneously introduced the high food source is preferentially exploited by both species. The flexibility of colony response was then tested by introducing the preferred source (high) incidentally, after recruitment towards the down food source began. Despite the well-known lack of flexibility of L. niger, both species showed the ability to reallocate their foraging workforce towards the highest food source. The collective choice and the flexibility are based on the difference between the u-turn rates when foragers are facing the ascending or descending branch. We discuss these results in terms of species-specifics characteristics and ecological context.
format	article
author	Olivier Bles Nathanaël Lozet Jean-Christophe de Biseau Alexandre Campo Jean-Louis Deneubourg
author_facet	Olivier Bles Nathanaël Lozet Jean-Christophe de Biseau Alexandre Campo Jean-Louis Deneubourg
author_sort	Olivier Bles
title	Effect of the land area elevation on the collective choice in ants
title_short	Effect of the land area elevation on the collective choice in ants
title_full	Effect of the land area elevation on the collective choice in ants
title_fullStr	Effect of the land area elevation on the collective choice in ants
title_full_unstemmed	Effect of the land area elevation on the collective choice in ants
title_sort	effect of the land area elevation on the collective choice in ants
publisher	Nature Portfolio
publishDate	2017
url	https://doaj.org/article/38916fcc8ec746b5b57e2f49ec783d73
work_keys_str_mv	AT olivierbles effectofthelandareaelevationonthecollectivechoiceinants AT nathanaellozet effectofthelandareaelevationonthecollectivechoiceinants AT jeanchristophedebiseau effectofthelandareaelevationonthecollectivechoiceinants AT alexandrecampo effectofthelandareaelevationonthecollectivechoiceinants AT jeanlouisdeneubourg effectofthelandareaelevationonthecollectivechoiceinants
_version_	1718389009598644224

Effect of the land area elevation on the collective choice in ants

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