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Influence of colony associated factors on nest selection in an Indian queenless ant
Author(s) -
KAUR RAJBIR,
ANNAGIRI SUMANA
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
ecological entomology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.865
H-Index - 81
eISSN - 1365-2311
pISSN - 0307-6946
DOI - 10.1111/een.12160
Subject(s) - biology , nest (protein structural motif) , relocation , brood , habitat , ecology , context (archaeology) , foraging , ant colony , zoology , selection (genetic algorithm) , paleontology , biochemistry , algorithm , computer science , ant colony optimization algorithms , programming language , artificial intelligence
1. Organisms face the difficult task of selecting an optimal new nest from the available options during relocation. Studies on honeybees and ants in their natural habitat indicate that scouts encounter multiple options that vary in their physical and biotic characteristics. 2. Architectural features, location, odour, and the presence of nest mates impact their choice of nest site selection. In order to examine the influence of diverse parameters on final nest site selection we conducted choice experiments on ants in the context of relocation. 3. After controlling for any influence by physical characteristics, we found that the presence of brood, adults, and colony odour acted as attractants with more colonies relocating into these new nests than expected by chance alone. In contrast, the presence of a reproductive female, or familiarity of location had no influence on the choice. New nests containing dead ants evoked cleaning responses from scouts, which may interfere with relocation into these nests. 4. Even although colonies consist of hundreds of adults and brood, colony integrity was maintained in 98.7% of colonies. Furthermore, we found that none of the eight studied colonies relocated when faced with minor flooding in their natural habitat, indicating that the cost of relocation is non‐trivial and that this species is capable of minor damage repairs. 5. These observations highlight the complexity of relocation in general, allow the characterisation of desirable nest attributes in this species, and highlight the need for similar exploration in other social insects.