Nest site and weather affect the personality of harvester ant colonies.

ABSTRACT: Environmental conditions and physical constraints both influence an animal's behavior. We investigate whether behavioral variation among colonies of the black harvester ant, Messor andrei, remains consistent across foraging and disturbance situations and ask whether consistent colony behavior is affected by nest site and weather. We examined variation among colonies in responsiveness to food baits and to disturbance, measured as a change in numbers of active ants, and in the speed with which colonies retrieved food and removed debris. Colonies differed consistently, across foraging and disturbance situations, in both responsiveness and speed. Increased activity in response to food was associated with a smaller decrease in response to alarm. Speed of retrieving food was correlated with spee

SUBMITTER: Pinter-Wollman N 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3431114 | biostudies-literature | 2012 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature