scholarly journals Allometric scaling of foraging rate with trail dimensions in leaf-cutting ants

2012 ◽  
Vol 279 (1737) ◽  
pp. 2442-2447 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrew I. Bruce ◽  
Martin Burd
Keyword(s):  
Allometric Scaling ◽  
Colony Growth ◽  
Individual Performance ◽  
Scaling Relationship ◽  
Foraging Rate ◽  
Leaf Cutting ◽  
Atta Colombica ◽  
Trail System ◽  
Severe Penalty ◽  
Growth And Reproduction

Leaf-cutting ants ( Atta spp.) create physical pathways to support the transport of resources on which colony growth and reproduction depend. We determined the scaling relationship between the rate of resource acquisition and the size of the trail system and foraging workforce for 18 colonies of Atta colombica and Atta cephalotes . We examined conventional power-law scaling patterns, but did so in a multivariate analysis that reveals the simultaneous effects of forager number, trail length and trail width. Foraging rate (number of resource-laden ants returning to the nest per unit time) scaled at the 0.93 power of worker numbers, the –1.02 power of total trail length and the 0.65 power of trail width. These scaling exponents indicate that individual performance declines only slightly as more foragers are recruited to the workforce, but that trail length imposes a severe penalty on the foraging rate. A model of mass traffic flow predicts the allometric patterns for workforce and trail length, although the effect of trail width is unexpected and points to the importance of the little-known mechanisms that regulate a colony's investment in trail clearance. These results provide a point of comparison for the role that resource flows may play in allometric scaling patterns in other transport-dependent entities, such as human cities.

Bumble bee colony growth and reproduction on reclaimed surface coal mines

2017 ◽  
Vol 26 (1) ◽  
pp. 183-194 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jessie Lanterman ◽  
Karen Goodell
Keyword(s):  
Coal Mines ◽  
Colony Growth ◽  
Bumble Bee ◽  
Bee Colony ◽  
Growth And Reproduction

scholarly journals Annual flowers strips benefit bumble bee colony growth and reproduction

2020 ◽  
Vol 252 ◽  
pp. 108814
Author(s):  
Björn K. Klatt ◽  
Lovisa Nilsson ◽  
Henrik G. Smith
Keyword(s):  
Colony Growth ◽  
Bumble Bee ◽  
Bee Colony ◽  
Growth And Reproduction

scholarly journals Consistent pollen nutritional intake drives bumble bee (Bombus impatiens) colony growth and reproduction across different habitats

2018 ◽  
Vol 8 (11) ◽  
pp. 5765-5776 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anthony D. Vaudo ◽  
Liam M. Farrell ◽  
Harland M. Patch ◽  
Christina M. Grozinger ◽  
John F. Tooker
Keyword(s):  
Colony Growth ◽  
Bombus Impatiens ◽  
Nutritional Intake ◽  
Bumble Bee ◽  
Growth And Reproduction

Dispersal of Miconia argentea seeds by the leaf-cutting ant Atta colombica

1998 ◽  
Vol 14 (5) ◽  
pp. 705-710 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. W. Dalling ◽  
Rainer Wirth
Keyword(s):  
Seedling Recruitment ◽  
Atta Cephalotes ◽  
Brazilian Cerrado ◽  
Atta Laevigata ◽  
Cerrado Vegetation ◽  
Brosimum Alicastrum ◽  
Leaf Cutting ◽  
Single Night ◽  
Local Recruitment ◽  
Atta Colombica

While leaf-cutter ants are thought to collect mainly vegetative plant material, they have also been observed collecting seeds or fruit parts on the forest floor (Alvarez-Buylla & Martínez-Ramos 1990, Kaspari 1996). For example, leaf-cutter ants have been observed carrying considerable numbers of Brosimum alicastrum Sw. and Cecropia spp. seeds into their nests (Wirth 1996) and Leal & Oliveira (1998; pers. comm.) found them foraging on the fruits and seeds of 19 different species of Brazilian cerrado vegetation, including six Miconia species. Under some circumstances, seed removal and relocation by leaf cutter ants might even be sufficient to affect local recruitment patterns of trees. For example, in Costa Rica, Atta cephalotes can remove all fallen fig fruit from beneath a Ficus hondurensis crown in a single night (Roberts & Heithaus 1986), while in Venezuela, seedling recruitment of the savanna tree Tapirira velutinifolia was positively associated with the seed harvesting and seed cleaning activities of the ant Atta laevigata (Farji Brenner & Silva 1996).

Size-related foraging behaviour of the leaf-cutting ant Atta colombica

1991 ◽  
Vol 69 (6) ◽  
pp. 1530-1533 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dave Shutler ◽  
Adele Mullie
Keyword(s):  
Body Size ◽  
Leaf Litter ◽  
Tree Species ◽  
Foraging Behaviour ◽  
Foraging Theory ◽  
Costa Rican ◽  
Leaf Cutting ◽  
Foraging Trail ◽  
Atta Colombica ◽  
Load Mass

In a Costa Rican forest adjacent to cattle pasture, larger individuals of the leaf-cutting ant Atta colombica carried heavier loads and foraged farther from the colony, as predicted by foraging theory. Counter to foraging theory, individual ants did not increase their load mass if they foraged farther from the colony. However, the colony avoided this apparent inefficiency by sending larger ants to more distant trees. The colony harvested simultaneously from several individuals of the same tree species, even though distant trees were twice as far from the colony as nearby trees. The reasons for this behaviour require further investigation. In a wide foraging trail, larger ants travelled faster than their smaller counterparts. In addition, ant velocity was reduced when loads were experimentally supplemented, and increased when loads were experimentally reduced. Ants using narrow trails in the leaf litter may all be constrained to travel at the same speed, irrespective of load or body size, simply because they get in each other's way.

scholarly journals Endophytic fungi reduce leaf-cutting ant damage to seedlings

2010 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 30-32 ◽  
Author(s):  
L. S. Bittleston ◽  
F. Brockmann ◽  
W. Wcislo ◽  
S. A. Van Bael
Keyword(s):  
Leaf Area ◽  
Plant Communities ◽  
Endophytic Fungi ◽  
Cordia Alliodora ◽  
Neotropical Forests ◽  
Ant Colonies ◽  
Leaf Toughness ◽  
Leaf Tissues ◽  
Leaf Cutting ◽  
Atta Colombica

Our study examines how the mutualism between Atta colombica leaf-cutting ants and their cultivated fungus is influenced by the presence of diverse foliar endophytic fungi (endophytes) at high densities in tropical leaf tissues. We conducted laboratory choice trials in which ant colonies chose between Cordia alliodora seedlings with high ( E high ) or low ( E low ) densities of endophytes. The E high seedlings contained 5.5 times higher endophyte content and a greater diversity of fungal morphospecies than the E low treatment, and endophyte content was not correlated with leaf toughness or thickness. Leaf-cutting ants cut over 2.5 times the leaf area from E low relative to E high seedlings and had a tendency to recruit more ants to E low plants. Our findings suggest that leaf-cutting ants may incur costs from cutting and processing leaves with high endophyte loads, which could impact Neotropical forests by causing variable damage rates within plant communities.

scholarly journals Optimality in a partitioned task performed by social insects

2008 ◽  
Vol 4 (6) ◽  
pp. 627-629 ◽  
Author(s):  
Martin Burd ◽  
Jerome J Howard
Keyword(s):  
Social Insects ◽  
Social Insect ◽  
Leaf Tissue ◽  
Leaf Fragment ◽  
Ant Colonies ◽  
Tissue Processing ◽  
Leaf Cutting ◽  
Laboratory Colonies ◽  
Atta Colombica ◽  
Behavioural Adaptations

Biologists have long been aware that adaptations should not be analysed in isolation from the function of the whole organism. Here, we address the equivalent issue at the scale of a social insect colony: the optimality of component behaviours in a partitioned sequence of tasks. In colonies of Atta colombica , a leaf-cutting ant, harvested leaf tissue is passed from foragers to nest workers that distribute, clean, shred and implant the tissue in fungal gardens. In four laboratory colonies of A. colombica , we found that the highest colony-wide rate of leaf tissue processing in the nest was achieved when leaf fragment sizes were suboptimal for individual delivery rate by foragers. Leaf-cutting ant colonies appear to compromise the efficiency of collecting leaf tissue in order to increase their ability to handle the material when it arrives in the nest. Such compromise reinforces the idea that behavioural adaptations, like adaptations in general, must be considered within the context of the larger entity of which they are a part.

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