Graveyards on the move: the spatio-temporal distribution of dead ophiocordyceps-infected ants.

Parasites are likely to play an important role in structuring host populations. Many adaptively manipulate host behaviour, so that the extended phenotypes of these parasites and their distributions in space and time are potentially important ecological variables. The fungus Ophiocordyceps unilateral...

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Autores principales:	Maj-Britt Pontoppidan, Winanda Himaman, Nigel L Hywel-Jones, Jacobus J Boomsma, David P Hughes
Formato:	article
Lenguaje:	EN
Publicado:	Public Library of Science (PLoS) 2009
Materias:	Medicine R Science Q
Acceso en línea:	https://doaj.org/article/6fddb4b206a14f608650fce9d00bd453
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id	oai:doaj.org-article:6fddb4b206a14f608650fce9d00bd453
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spelling	oai:doaj.org-article:6fddb4b206a14f608650fce9d00bd4532021-11-25T06:16:44ZGraveyards on the move: the spatio-temporal distribution of dead ophiocordyceps-infected ants.1932-620310.1371/journal.pone.0004835https://doaj.org/article/6fddb4b206a14f608650fce9d00bd4532009-01-01T00:00:00Zhttps://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/pmid/19279680/?tool=EBIhttps://doaj.org/toc/1932-6203Parasites are likely to play an important role in structuring host populations. Many adaptively manipulate host behaviour, so that the extended phenotypes of these parasites and their distributions in space and time are potentially important ecological variables. The fungus Ophiocordyceps unilateralis, which is pan-tropical in distribution, causes infected worker ants to leave their nest and die under leaves in the understory of tropical rainforests. Working in a forest dynamic plot in Southern Thailand we mapped the occurrence of these dead ants by examining every leaf in 1,360 m(2) of primary rainforest. We established that high density aggregations exist (up to 26 dead ants/m(2)), which we coined graveyards. We further established that graveyards are patchily distributed in a landscape with no or very few O. unilateralis-killed ants. At some, but not all, spatial scales of analysis the density of dead ants correlated with temperature, humidity and vegetation cover. Remarkably, having found 2243 dead ants inside graveyards we only found 2 live ants of the principal host, ant Camponotus leonardi, suggesting that foraging host ants actively avoid graveyards. We discovered that the principal host ant builds nests in high canopy and its trails only occasionally descend to the forest floor where infection occurs. We advance the hypothesis that rare descents may be a function of limited canopy access to tree crowns and that resource profitability of such trees is potentially traded off against the risk of losing workers due to infection when forest floor trails are the only access routes. Our work underscores the need for an integrative approach that recognises multiple facets of parasitism, such as their extended phenotypes.Maj-Britt PontoppidanWinanda HimamanNigel L Hywel-JonesJacobus J BoomsmaDavid P HughesPublic Library of Science (PLoS)articleMedicineRScienceQENPLoS ONE, Vol 4, Iss 3, p e4835 (2009)
institution	DOAJ
collection	DOAJ
language	EN
topic	Medicine R Science Q
spellingShingle	Medicine R Science Q Maj-Britt Pontoppidan Winanda Himaman Nigel L Hywel-Jones Jacobus J Boomsma David P Hughes Graveyards on the move: the spatio-temporal distribution of dead ophiocordyceps-infected ants.
description	Parasites are likely to play an important role in structuring host populations. Many adaptively manipulate host behaviour, so that the extended phenotypes of these parasites and their distributions in space and time are potentially important ecological variables. The fungus Ophiocordyceps unilateralis, which is pan-tropical in distribution, causes infected worker ants to leave their nest and die under leaves in the understory of tropical rainforests. Working in a forest dynamic plot in Southern Thailand we mapped the occurrence of these dead ants by examining every leaf in 1,360 m(2) of primary rainforest. We established that high density aggregations exist (up to 26 dead ants/m(2)), which we coined graveyards. We further established that graveyards are patchily distributed in a landscape with no or very few O. unilateralis-killed ants. At some, but not all, spatial scales of analysis the density of dead ants correlated with temperature, humidity and vegetation cover. Remarkably, having found 2243 dead ants inside graveyards we only found 2 live ants of the principal host, ant Camponotus leonardi, suggesting that foraging host ants actively avoid graveyards. We discovered that the principal host ant builds nests in high canopy and its trails only occasionally descend to the forest floor where infection occurs. We advance the hypothesis that rare descents may be a function of limited canopy access to tree crowns and that resource profitability of such trees is potentially traded off against the risk of losing workers due to infection when forest floor trails are the only access routes. Our work underscores the need for an integrative approach that recognises multiple facets of parasitism, such as their extended phenotypes.
format	article
author	Maj-Britt Pontoppidan Winanda Himaman Nigel L Hywel-Jones Jacobus J Boomsma David P Hughes
author_facet	Maj-Britt Pontoppidan Winanda Himaman Nigel L Hywel-Jones Jacobus J Boomsma David P Hughes
author_sort	Maj-Britt Pontoppidan
title	Graveyards on the move: the spatio-temporal distribution of dead ophiocordyceps-infected ants.
title_short	Graveyards on the move: the spatio-temporal distribution of dead ophiocordyceps-infected ants.
title_full	Graveyards on the move: the spatio-temporal distribution of dead ophiocordyceps-infected ants.
title_fullStr	Graveyards on the move: the spatio-temporal distribution of dead ophiocordyceps-infected ants.
title_full_unstemmed	Graveyards on the move: the spatio-temporal distribution of dead ophiocordyceps-infected ants.
title_sort	graveyards on the move: the spatio-temporal distribution of dead ophiocordyceps-infected ants.
publisher	Public Library of Science (PLoS)
publishDate	2009
url	https://doaj.org/article/6fddb4b206a14f608650fce9d00bd453
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Graveyards on the move: the spatio-temporal distribution of dead ophiocordyceps-infected ants.

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