排序方式: 共有13条查询结果,搜索用时 0 毫秒
11.
Tanja Schwander Hervé Rosset Michel Chapuisat 《Behavioral ecology and sociobiology》2005,59(2):215-221
Division of labour among workers is central to the organisation and ecological success of insect societies. If there is a genetic component to worker size, morphology or task preference, an increase in colony genetic diversity arising from the presence of multiple breeders per colony might improve division of labour. We studied the genetic basis of worker size and task preference in Formica selysi, an ant species that shows natural variation in the number of mates per queen and the number of queens per colony. Worker size had a heritable component in colonies headed by a doubly mated queen (h
2=0.26) and differed significantly among matrilines in multiple-queen colonies. However, higher levels of genetic diversity did not result in more polymorphic workers across single- or multiple-queen colonies. In addition, workers from multiple-queen colonies were consistently smaller and less polymorphic than workers from single-queen colonies. The relationship between task, body size and genetic lineage appeared to be complex. Foragers were significantly larger than brood-tenders, which may provide energetic or ergonomic advantages to the colony. Task specialisation was also often associated with genetic lineage. However, genetic lineage and body size were often correlated with task independently of each other, suggesting that the allocation of workers to tasks is modulated by multiple factors. Overall, these results indicate that an increase in colony genetic diversity does not increase worker size polymorphism but might improve colony homeostasis. 相似文献
12.
Summary. Anting, the plumage-dipping behavior to which ants (mostly formicines) are commonly subjected by birds (mostly passerines),
is shown in tests with hand-raised Blue Jays (Cyanocitta cristata) and the ant Formica exsectoides to be instinctive: the birds displayed typical renditions of the behavior on the first occasion that they encountered ants.
Evidence is presented supportive of the view that anting is a strategy by which birds render ants fit for ingestion. Formicine
ants are ordinarily protected by their formic acid-containing spray. Being wiped into the bird’s plumage causes them to discharge
that spray, without harm to the bird, to the point of almost total emptying of the glandular sac in which the secretion is
stored. The ants are therefore essentially secretion-free by the time they are swallowed. Further evidence indicates that
it is the ant’s possession of the acid sac that triggers the anting behavior in the bird. If F. exsectoides are surgically deprived of their acid sac, they are eaten by the birds without first being subjected to anting. Data are
also presented indicating that the ant’s crop, which is especially capacious in formicines (its contents may amount to over
30% of the formicine’s mass), and which appears to survive the anting procedure intact, constitutes, at least when laden,
a valuable component of the trophic package that the bird accesses by anting. 相似文献
13.
The time course of changes in characteristics of herbaceous vegetation around Formica aquilonia Yarr. ant nests formed from artificially relocated fragments of original families was studied over 6 years. At the initial stage of nest formation, species richness and diversity of the herbaceous layer decreased, and its taxonomic, spatial, phytocenotic, and ecological structure changed. Trivialization of vegetation around anthills was observed. The proportion of zoochorous and anemophilous plants with narrow or strongly dissected leaves increased in the developing myrmecotopic assemblages. 相似文献