Tandem communication improves ant foraging success in a highly competitive tropical habitat

Author(s)

Glaser, S. M. ^[1] ; Feitosa, R. M. ^[2] ; Koch, A. ^[3] ; Goss, N. ^[1] ; do Nascimento, F. S. ^[4] ; Grueter, C. ^{[5, 1]}

Affiliation

^[1] Johannes Gutenberg Univ Mainz, Inst Organism & Mol Evolut, Hanns Dieter Husch Weg 15, D-55128 Mainz - Germany

^[2] Univ Fed Parana, Dept Zool, BR-81531980 Curitiba, PR - Brazil

^[3] Univ Regensburg, Dept Zool & Evolutionary Biol, Anim Comparat Econ Lab, D-93053 Regensburg - Germany

^[4] Univ Sao Paulo, Dept Biol, Fac Filosofia Ciencias & Letras Ribeirao Preto, Sao Paulo - Brazil

^[5] Univ Bristol, Sch Biol Sci, 24 Tyndall Ave, Bristol BS8 1TQ, Avon - England

• Document type: Journal article
• Source: Insectes Sociaux; v. 68, n. 2-3, p. 161-172, AUG 2021.
• Web of Science Citations: 1

Abstract

Tropical ants experience intense intra- and interspecific competition for food sources, which influences their activity pattern and foraging strategies. Even though different ant species can coexist through spatial and temporal niche partitioning, direct competition for food cannot be avoided. Recruitment communication is assumed to help colonies to monopolize and exploit food sources successfully, but this has rarely been tested under field conditions. We studied if recruitment communication helps colonies of the Neotropical ant Pachycondyla harpax to be more successful in a highly competitive tropical environment. Additionally, we explored if temporal and spatial niche differentiation helps focal colonies to avoid competition. Pachycondyla harpax competed with dozens of ant species for food. Mass-recruiting competitors were often successful in displacing P. harpax from food baits. However, when foragers of P. harpax were able to recruit nestmates they had a 4-times higher probability to keep access to the food baits. Colonies were unlikely to be displaced during our observations after a few ants arrived at the food source. Competition was more intense after sunset, but a disproportionate increase in activity after sunset allowed focal colonies to exploit food sources more successfully after sunset. Our results support the hypothesis that recruitment communication helps colonies to monopolize food sources by helping them to establish a critical mass of nestmates at large resources. This indicates that even species with a small colony size and a slow recruitment method, such as tandem running, benefit from recruitment communication in a competitive environment. (AU)

• FAPESP's process: 19/01148-8 - Competition avoidance and tandem recruitment in the neotropical ant Pachycondyla harpax (Hymenoptera: Formicidae)
• Grantee: Fábio Santos do Nascimento
• Support Opportunities: Research Grants - Visiting Researcher Grant - International