Ectoparasitic fungi Rickia wasmannii infection is associated with smaller body size in Myrmica ants

Abstract Parasitism-generated negative effects on ant societies are multifaceted, implying individual and colony-level responses. Though laboratory based evidence shows that the sublethal fungus Rickia wasmannii is responsible for physiological and behavioral responses that may negatively affect ind...

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Autores principales:	Sándor Csősz, Zoltán Rádai, András Tartally, Lilla Erika Ballai, Ferenc Báthori
Formato:	article
Lenguaje:	EN
Publicado:	Nature Portfolio 2021
Materias:	Medicine R Science Q
Acceso en línea:	https://doaj.org/article/6a25801b3a00429da19db5870cfb531e
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spelling	oai:doaj.org-article:6a25801b3a00429da19db5870cfb531e2021-12-02T16:14:09ZEctoparasitic fungi Rickia wasmannii infection is associated with smaller body size in Myrmica ants10.1038/s41598-021-93583-02045-2322https://doaj.org/article/6a25801b3a00429da19db5870cfb531e2021-07-01T00:00:00Zhttps://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-021-93583-0https://doaj.org/toc/2045-2322Abstract Parasitism-generated negative effects on ant societies are multifaceted, implying individual and colony-level responses. Though laboratory based evidence shows that the sublethal fungus Rickia wasmannii is responsible for physiological and behavioral responses that may negatively affect individual workers’ resilience and life expectancy in Myrmica ant workers, colony-level stress response to this parasite is largely unknown. Here, we focus on understanding of a long-term, colony-level effect of Rickia infection on Myrmica scabrinodis ant populations by tracking trait size-based changes. We collected worker specimens from infected and uninfected colonies from the same population in order to: (1) compare body size in response to parasitism, (2) assess the extent to which possible changes in size are associated with the severity of infection, and (3) investigate shifts in body size in response to infection over time by testing correlation of workers’ ages and sizes. We found that workers from infected colonies were significantly smaller than their healthy congeners, but neither infection level nor the age of the workers showed significant correlation with the size in infected colonies. Decreasing body sizes in infected colonies can be ascribed to workers’ mediated effect toward developing larvae, which are unable to attain the average body size before they pupate.Sándor CsőszZoltán RádaiAndrás TartallyLilla Erika BallaiFerenc BáthoriNature PortfolioarticleMedicineRScienceQENScientific Reports, Vol 11, Iss 1, Pp 1-9 (2021)
institution	DOAJ
collection	DOAJ
language	EN
topic	Medicine R Science Q
spellingShingle	Medicine R Science Q Sándor Csősz Zoltán Rádai András Tartally Lilla Erika Ballai Ferenc Báthori Ectoparasitic fungi Rickia wasmannii infection is associated with smaller body size in Myrmica ants
description	Abstract Parasitism-generated negative effects on ant societies are multifaceted, implying individual and colony-level responses. Though laboratory based evidence shows that the sublethal fungus Rickia wasmannii is responsible for physiological and behavioral responses that may negatively affect individual workers’ resilience and life expectancy in Myrmica ant workers, colony-level stress response to this parasite is largely unknown. Here, we focus on understanding of a long-term, colony-level effect of Rickia infection on Myrmica scabrinodis ant populations by tracking trait size-based changes. We collected worker specimens from infected and uninfected colonies from the same population in order to: (1) compare body size in response to parasitism, (2) assess the extent to which possible changes in size are associated with the severity of infection, and (3) investigate shifts in body size in response to infection over time by testing correlation of workers’ ages and sizes. We found that workers from infected colonies were significantly smaller than their healthy congeners, but neither infection level nor the age of the workers showed significant correlation with the size in infected colonies. Decreasing body sizes in infected colonies can be ascribed to workers’ mediated effect toward developing larvae, which are unable to attain the average body size before they pupate.
format	article
author	Sándor Csősz Zoltán Rádai András Tartally Lilla Erika Ballai Ferenc Báthori
author_facet	Sándor Csősz Zoltán Rádai András Tartally Lilla Erika Ballai Ferenc Báthori
author_sort	Sándor Csősz
title	Ectoparasitic fungi Rickia wasmannii infection is associated with smaller body size in Myrmica ants
title_short	Ectoparasitic fungi Rickia wasmannii infection is associated with smaller body size in Myrmica ants
title_full	Ectoparasitic fungi Rickia wasmannii infection is associated with smaller body size in Myrmica ants
title_fullStr	Ectoparasitic fungi Rickia wasmannii infection is associated with smaller body size in Myrmica ants
title_full_unstemmed	Ectoparasitic fungi Rickia wasmannii infection is associated with smaller body size in Myrmica ants
title_sort	ectoparasitic fungi rickia wasmannii infection is associated with smaller body size in myrmica ants
publisher	Nature Portfolio
publishDate	2021
url	https://doaj.org/article/6a25801b3a00429da19db5870cfb531e
work_keys_str_mv	AT sandorcsosz ectoparasiticfungirickiawasmanniiinfectionisassociatedwithsmallerbodysizeinmyrmicaants AT zoltanradai ectoparasiticfungirickiawasmanniiinfectionisassociatedwithsmallerbodysizeinmyrmicaants AT andrastartally ectoparasiticfungirickiawasmanniiinfectionisassociatedwithsmallerbodysizeinmyrmicaants AT lillaerikaballai ectoparasiticfungirickiawasmanniiinfectionisassociatedwithsmallerbodysizeinmyrmicaants AT ferencbathori ectoparasiticfungirickiawasmanniiinfectionisassociatedwithsmallerbodysizeinmyrmicaants
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Ectoparasitic fungi Rickia wasmannii infection is associated with smaller body size in Myrmica ants

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