Tandem running by foraging Pachycondyla striata workers in field conditions vary in response to food type, food distance, and environmental conditions.

ABSTRACT: Ants show collective and individual behavioral flexibility in their response to immediate context, choosing for example between different foraging strategies. In Pachycondyla striata, workers can forage solitarily or recruit and guide nestmates to larger food sources through tandem running. Although considered more ancestral and less efficient than pheromone trail-laying, this strategy is common especially in species with small colony size. What is not known is how the decision to recruit or follow varies according to the immediate context. That is, how fine adjustments in information transfer affect immediate foraging decisions at the colony level. Here, we studied individually marked workers and evaluated their foraging decisions when food items varied in nature (protein versus ca

SUBMITTER: Silva JP 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8489177 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature