scholarly journals Early queen infection shapes developmental dynamics and induces long‐term disease protection in incipient ant colonies

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Barbara Casillas‐Pérez ◽  
Christopher D. Pull ◽  
Filip Naiser ◽  
Elisabeth Naderlinger ◽  
Jiri Matas ◽  
...  
2014 ◽  
Author(s):  
Raquel G Loreto ◽  
Simon L Elliot ◽  
Mayara LR Freitas ◽  
Thairine M Pereira ◽  
David P Hughes

Despite the widely held position that the social insects have evolved effective ways to limit infectious disease spread, many pathogens and parasites do attack insect societies. Maintaining a disease-free nest environment is an important evolutionary feature, but since workers have to leave the nest to forage they are routinely exposed to disease. Here we show that despite effective social immunity, in which workers act collectively to reduce disease inside the nest, 100% of studied ant colonies of Camponotus rufipes in a Brazilian Rainforest were infected by the specialized fungal parasite Ophiocordyceps unilateralis s.l. Not only is disease present for all colonies but long-term dynamics over 20 months revealed disease is a permanent feature. Using 3D maps, we showed the parasite optimizes its transmission by controlling workers’ behavior to die on the doorstep of the colony, where susceptible foragers are predictable in time and space. Therefore, despite social immunity, specialized diseases of ants have evolved effective strategies to exploit insect societies.


2017 ◽  
Vol 71 (10) ◽  
Author(s):  
Adele Bordoni ◽  
Mattia Aaron Miroddi ◽  
Leonardo Dapporto ◽  
Stefano Turillazzi

10.2307/3969 ◽  
1982 ◽  
Vol 51 (2) ◽  
pp. 349 ◽  
Author(s):  
Janusz Uchmanski ◽  
Joanna Petal

2014 ◽  
Vol 37 (2) ◽  
pp. 75-100 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. Rosmawati

This paper reports on the development of complexity and accuracy in English as a Second Language (ESL) academic writing. Although research into complexity and accuracy development in second language (L2) writing has been well established, few studies have assumed the multidimensionality of these two constructs (Norris & Ortega, 2009) or endeavoured to make long-term observations on the course of their development (Vyatkina, 2012). Given that recent research in the field of Second Language Acquisition has moved towards a more holistic perspective on language learning and development (Larsen-Freeman, 2011, 2012), there is a need to consider the potential dynamics of the longitudinal development of these constructs in L2 writing. This study addresses this issue by exploring the dynamic unfolding of complexity and accuracy development in the academic writing of an advanced L2 learner during her postgraduate study in Australia. The results suggested that both complexity and accuracy displayed the characteristics of a dynamic system and their development was highly variable, non-linear, and idiosyncratic. Their interaction, too, was dynamic and changed over time. The findings in this study confirm and substantiate the Dynamic Systems Theory (DST) proposition of L2 developmental dynamics, including the development of L2 academic writing.


Author(s):  
Nicole Rogers ◽  
Anthony W. D'Amato ◽  
William Leak

: In northeastern North America, group selection is frequently used in northern hardwood forests to maintain uneven-aged stand structure and promote regeneration of tree species spanning a range of shade tolerances. For this study, long-term application of group selection at the Bartlett Experimental Forest, New Hampshire, USA provided a unique opportunity to address cohort and stand level progression after 80-years of treatment. Cohort-level evolution reflected successional and developmental dynamics associated with even-aged forest systems, whereas aggregate, stand-level conditions were consistent with expectations for uneven-aged systems. As cohorts aged, diameter distributions progressed towards descending monotonic forms and species composition transitioned from shade-intolerant species to shade-tolerant species. Standing deadwood and downed woody material in cohorts followed trajectories of aging even-aged stands through time. Although American beech (Fagus grandifolia Ehrh.) was a primary species across cohorts and at the stand level, stand level regeneration included a mixture of ecologically and commercially valuable species. These long-term results offer important insights into emergent cohort and stand-level conditions and processes that may affect continued recruitment of desirable compositional and structural conditions in stands managed using group selection over numerous cutting cycles.


2015 ◽  
Vol 98 (3) ◽  
pp. 991-993 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sanford D. Porter ◽  
Steven M. Valles ◽  
Jenny M. Gavilanez-Slone
Keyword(s):  
Fire Ant ◽  

Micromachines ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 10 (3) ◽  
pp. 168 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zhen Zhu ◽  
Yangye Geng ◽  
Zhangyi Yuan ◽  
Siqi Ren ◽  
Meijing Liu ◽  
...  

The development of miniaturized devices for studying zebrafish embryos has been limited due to complicated fabrication and operation processes. Here, we reported on a microfluidic device that enabled the capture and culture of zebrafish embryos and real-time monitoring of dynamic embryonic development. The device was simply fabricated by bonding two layers of polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) structures replicated from three-dimensional (3D) printed reusable molds onto a flat glass substrate. Embryos were easily loaded into the device with a pipette, docked in traps by gravity, and then retained in traps with hydrodynamic forces for long-term culturing. A degassing chamber bonded on top was used to remove air bubbles from the embryo-culturing channel and traps so that any embryo movement caused by air bubbles was eliminated during live imaging. Computational fluid dynamics simulations suggested this embryo-trapping and -retention regime to exert low shear stress on the immobilized embryos. Monitoring of the zebrafish embryogenesis over 20 h during the early stages successfully verified the performance of the microfluidic device for culturing the immobilized zebrafish embryos. Therefore, this rapid-prototyping, low-cost and easy-to-operate microfluidic device offers a promising platform for the long-term culturing of immobilized zebrafish embryos under continuous medium perfusion and the high-quality screening of the developmental dynamics.


2016 ◽  
Vol 87 (5) ◽  
pp. 1466-1478 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ralf Wölfer ◽  
Katharina Schmid ◽  
Miles Hewstone ◽  
Maarten van Zalk

2020 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniel Schläppi ◽  
Nina Kettler ◽  
Lars Straub ◽  
Gaétan Glauser ◽  
Peter Neumann

AbstractThe widespread prophylactic usage of neonicotinoid insecticides has a clear impact on non-target organisms. However, the possible effects of long-term exposure on soil-dwelling organisms are still poorly understood especially for social insects with long-living queens. Here, we show that effects of chronic exposure to the neonicotinoid thiamethoxam on black garden ant colonies, Lasius niger, become visible before the second overwintering. Queens and workers differed in the residue-ratio of thiamethoxam to its metabolite clothianidin, suggesting that queens may have a superior detoxification system. Even though thiamethoxam did not affect queen mortality, neonicotinoid-exposed colonies showed a reduced number of workers and larvae indicating a trade-off between detoxification and fertility. Since colony size is a key for fitness, our data suggest long-term impacts of neonicotinoids on these organisms. This should be accounted for in future environmental and ecological risk assessments of neonicotinoid applications to prevent irreparable damages to ecosystems.


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