The Florida Harvester Ant, Pogonomyrmex badius, Relies on Germination to Consume Large Seeds.

ABSTRACT: The Florida harvester ant, Pogonomyrmex badius, is one of many ant species and genera that stores large numbers of seeds in damp, underground chambers for later consumption. A comparison of the sizes of seeds recovered from storage chambers with those of seed husks discarded following consumption revealed that the used seeds are far smaller than stored seeds. This difference in use-rate was confirmed in field and laboratory colonies by offering marked seeds of various sizes and monitoring the appearance of size-specific chaff. Because foragers collect a range of seed sizes but only open small seeds, large seeds accumulate, forming 70% or more of the weight of seed stores. Major workers increase the rates at which small and medium seeds are opened, but do not increase the size range of open

SUBMITTER: Tschinkel WR 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5125654 | biostudies-literature | 2016

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature