Foraging preferences of ants on a heterogeneous Brazilian sandy shore habitat

Author(s)

Vidal, Mayra C. ^{[1, 2]} ; Silva, Ana K. ^[1] ; Sendoya, Sebastian F. ^{[1, 3]}

Affiliation

^[1] Univ Estadual Campinas, Inst Biol, Grad Program Ecol, Dept Anim Biol, Campinas - Brazil

^[2] Syracuse Univ, Dept Biol, 358 Life Sci Complex, 107 Coll Pl, Syracuse, NY 13244 - USA

^[3] Univ Fed Pelotas, Dept Zool Ecol & Genet, Pelotas - Brazil

• Document type: Journal article
• Source: ECOLOGICAL ENTOMOLOGY; v. 44, n. 2, p. 283-286, APR 2019.
• Web of Science Citations: 1

Abstract

1. Ants may select their food in response to nutritional needs of the colony and forage in a way that optimises a complementary nutrition. Even though resource availability is known to affect ant colony and individual health, there is still no study that has investigated the plastic preferences of ants according to spatial resource availability in naturally heterogeneous conditions. 2. Beaches are great biomes to test spatial foraging preference because a complete absence of nectaries can be found. Dorymyrmex nigra Pergande 1896 was found inhabiting a beach in southeastern Brazil, in which nectar sources are heterogeneously distributed. This study tested whether the foraging preference to sugar baits depended on the availability of nectar sources surrounding the nests. 3. We found that more D. nigra workers foraged on sugar baits when the colonies lacked naturally occurring nectar in their vicinity compared with colonies with abundant nectar nearby. 4. These results show that the foraging preference of ants depends upon resource availability. This is the first study to use a natural mosaic of resource availability to show that resource preference of ants is plastic and varies spatially. (AU)

• FAPESP's process: 10/13619-0 - Exploitation of ants-Qualea grandiflora (Vochysiaceae) mutualism by Medetera (Dolichopodidae, Diptera)
• Grantee: Mayra Cadorin Vidal
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Master
• FAPESP's process: 12/23399-3 - Interaction between ants and plants bearing extrafloral nectaries : Community patterns along a latitudinal gradient in the cerrado biome
• Grantee: Sebastian Felipe Sendoya Echeverry
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Post-Doctoral
• FAPESP's process: 11/18580-8 - Studies on Neotropical ants: interactions with herbivorous insects, behavioral ecology and social organization
• Grantee: Paulo Sergio Moreira Carvalho de Oliveira
• Support Opportunities: Regular Research Grants