d'Ettorre, Patrizia and Brunner, Elisabeth and Wenseleers, T. and Heinze, Juergen (2004) Knowing your enemies: seasonal dynamics of host-social parasite recognition. NATURWISSENSCHAFTEN, 91 (12). pp. 594-597. ISSN 0028-1042,
Full text not available from this repository. (Request a copy)Abstract
Despite its evolutionary significance, behavioural flexibility of social response has rarely been investigated in insects. We studied a host-social parasite system: the slave-making ant Polyergus rufescens and its host Formica rufibarbis. Free-living host workers from parasitized and from unparasitized areas were compared in their level of aggression against the parasite and alien conspecifics. We expected that a seasonal change would occur in the acceptance threshold of F. rufibarbis workers from a parasitized area towards the parasite, whereas F. rufibarbis workers from an unparasitized area would not show substantial changes connected with the parasite's peak in activity (raiding and colony-founding season). The results showed a significant adaptive behavioural flexibility of host species workers and are consistent with the acceptance threshold model's (Reeve 1989) prediction that recognition systems are not fixed but context-dependent. In particular, host workers from the unparasitized area were highly aggressive towards the parasite regardless of the season, whereas host workers from the parasitized area significantly increased their aggression towards the parasite during its raiding and colony-founding season. Being able to detect and possibly kill a Polyergus scout searching for host nests can be an effective strategy for a Formica colony to avoid being raided or usurped by a parasite queen.
| Item Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | POLYERGUS-RUFESCENS HYMENOPTERA; EUROPEAN AMAZON ANT; SLAVE-MAKING ANT; LATR HYMENOPTERA; REED WARBLERS; ARMS RACES; FORMICIDAE; BEHAVIOR; |
| Subjects: | 500 Science > 590 Zoological sciences |
| Divisions: | Biology, Preclinical Medicine > Institut für Zoologie > Zoologie/Evolutionsbiologie (Prof. Dr. Jürgen Heinze) |
| Depositing User: | Dr. Gernot Deinzer |
| Date Deposited: | 21 Jun 2021 11:42 |
| Last Modified: | 21 Jun 2021 11:42 |
| URI: | https://pred.uni-regensburg.de/id/eprint/36926 |
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