Consequences of soldier loss for social immunity in termites (Isoptera: Termitidae)

• Grant number: 20/08121-5
• Support Opportunities: Regular Research Grants
• Start date: February 01, 2021
• End date: January 31, 2023
• Field of knowledge: Biological Sciences - Zoology - Animal Behavior
• Principal Investigator: Ives Haifig
• Grantee: Ives Haifig
• Host Institution: Centro de Ciências Naturais e Humanas (CCNH). Universidade Federal do ABC (UFABC). Ministério da Educação (Brasil). Santo André , SP, Brazil
• Associated researchers: Alberto José Arab Olavarrieta ; André Rodrigues ; Christian Jost ; Dino McMahon ; Fabiana Elaine Casarin dos Santos ; Vincent Fourcassié
• Associated research grant(s): 24/03994-1 - European Congress of the International Union for the Study of Social Insects (IUSSI), AR.EXT

Abstract

The soldier caste is a synapomorphy in Isoptera. These individuals are primarily responsible for colony defense and seem to act in the colonial immune defense against pathogens. Some species have lost the soldier caste, and doubts concerning the development of the immune system and how these species deal with pathogens without soldiers make the neotropical Apicotermitinae an excellent study model. The present study aims to comprehend the role of soldiers in the evolution of the social immunity in termites. Therefore, two termite species will be compared: Silvestritermes euamignathus, which possesses soldiers with physical and chemical defense, and Anoplotermes pacificus, which is a soldierless species, in order to answer the following questions: 1. What is the contribution of soldiers in the behavioral repertoires involved in social immunity in termites with physical and chemical defenses?; 2. What behavioral activities are associated with the social immunity in termites that lost the soldier caste?. Individuals of both species will be infected to the fungi Metarhizium anisopliae and placed in experimental arenas for behavioral observation. The experimental analysis includes the quantification of behaviors such as grooming, attack, dismembering, or other observed behavior between the other members and the infected nestmate. Data will be analyzed using general mixed-effect models. At the end of this study, it is expected to understand the behavioral strategies adopted by the two species of neotropical termites against the pathogen and the role of soldiers in the evolution of the social immune system in termites. (AU)

Scientific publications

(References retrieved automatically from Web of Science and SciELO through information on FAPESP grants and their corresponding numbers as mentioned in the publications by the authors)

CARRIJO, T. F.; ENGEL, M. S.; CHOUVENC, T.; GILE, G. H.; MIKAELYAN, A.; DEDEINE, F.; WARE, J. L.; HAIFIG, I.; ARAB, A.; CONSTANTINI, J. P.; et al. A call to termitologists: it is time to abandon the use of "lower" and "higher" termites. Insectes Sociaux, v. N/A, p. 5-pg., 2023-08-23. (20/06041-4, 18/22839-6, 20/08121-5, 14/11982-1, 17/11768-8)

DA SILVA, L. H. B.; JOST, C.; VARGO, E. L.; COSTA-LEONARDO, A. M.; HAIFIG, I. Incipient colonies of the neotropical termite Cornitermes cumulans (Isoptera: Termitidae): comparing monogamy and polygamy as reproductive strategies. Insectes Sociaux, v. 69, n. 1, p. 6-pg., 2022-02-13. (20/08121-5)