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Colony size, nestmate density and social history shape behavioural variation in Formica fusca colonies
Author(s) -
Somogyi Anna Ágnes,
Tartally András,
Maák István Elek,
Barta Zoltán
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
ethology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.739
H-Index - 74
eISSN - 1439-0310
pISSN - 0179-1613
DOI - 10.1111/eth.13022
Subject(s) - biology , intraspecific competition , ecology , ant colony , variation (astronomy) , zoology , hymenoptera , physics , algorithm , computer science , ant colony optimization algorithms , astrophysics
In ants, individuals live in tightly integrated units (colonies) and work collectively for its success. In such groups, stable intraspecific variation in behaviour within or across contexts (personality) can occur at two levels: individuals and colonies. This paper examines how colony size and nestmate density influence the collective exploratory behaviour of Formica fusca (Hymenoptera: Formicidae), in the laboratory. The housing conditions of the colonies were manipulated to vary the size of colonies and their densities under a fully factorial design. The results demonstrate the presence of colony behavioural repeatability in this species, and contrary to our expectations, colonies were more explorative on average when they were kept at lower nestmate densities. We also found that experimental colonies created from larger source colonies were more explorative, which conveys that a thorough understanding of the contemporary behaviour of a colony may require knowing its social history and how it was formed. Our results also convey that the colony size and nestmate density can have significant effects on the exploratory behaviour of ant colonies.