Katzav-Gozansky Tamar, Boulay Raphael, Vander Meer Robert, Hefetz Abraham
Department of Zoology, George S. Wise Faculty of Life Sciences, Tel Aviv University, Ramat Aviv, Tel Aviv, Israel.
Naturwissenschaften. 2004 Apr;91(4):186-90. doi: 10.1007/s00114-004-0513-0. Epub 2004 Mar 11.
Multiple behavioral and chemical studies indicate that ant nestmate recognition cues are low-volatile substances, in particular hydrocarbons (HCs) located on the cuticular surface. We tested the hypothesis that in the ant Camponotus fellah, nest environment, in particular nest volatile odors, can modulate nestmate-recognition-mediated aggression. Workers were individually confined within their own nest in small cages having either a single mesh (SM = limited physical contact permitted) or a double mesh (DM = exposed to nest volatiles only) screen. Individual workers completely isolated outside their nest (CI) served as control. When reintroduced into a group of 50 nestmates, the CI workers were attacked as alien ants after only 2 weeks of separation, whereas the SM workers were treated as nestmates even after 2 months of separation. Aggression towards DM ants depended on the period of isolation. Only DM workers isolated for over 2 months were aggressed by their nestmates, which did not significantly differ from the CI nestmates. Cuticular HC analyses revealed that the profile of the non-isolated ants (NI) was clearly distinct from that of CI, SM and DM ants. Profile differences matched the aggressive response in the case of CI ants but were uncorrelated in the case of SM or DM ants. This suggests that keeping the ants within the nest environment affected nestmate recognition in additional ways than merely altering their HC profile. Nest environment thus appears to affect label-template mismatch by modulating aggressive behavior, as well as the direction at which cuticular HCs diverged during the separation period.
多项行为学和化学研究表明，蚂蚁识别同巢伙伴的线索是低挥发性物质，特别是位于体表的碳氢化合物（HCs）。我们验证了这样一个假设：在法老弓背蚁中，巢穴环境，特别是巢穴挥发性气味，能够调节由识别同巢伙伴介导的攻击行为。工蚁被单独关在小笼子里，笼子位于它们自己的巢穴中，笼子有单层网（SM = 允许有限的身体接触）或双层网（DM = 仅暴露于巢穴挥发性气味）筛网。完全隔离在巢穴外的个体工蚁（CI）作为对照。当重新引入由50只同巢伙伴组成的群体中时，CI工蚁在仅分离2周后就被当作外来蚂蚁攻击，而SM工蚁即使在分离2个月后仍被当作同巢伙伴对待。对DM蚂蚁的攻击取决于隔离时间。只有隔离超过2个月的DM工蚁受到同巢伙伴的攻击，这与CI同巢伙伴没有显著差异。体表HC分析表明，未隔离蚂蚁（NI）的图谱与CI、SM和DM蚂蚁的图谱明显不同。图谱差异在CI蚂蚁的情况下与攻击反应相匹配，但在SM或DM蚂蚁的情况下则不相关。这表明，将蚂蚁置于巢穴环境中对同巢伙伴识别的影响，不仅仅是改变它们的HC图谱。因此，巢穴环境似乎通过调节攻击行为以及在分离期间体表HCs发生变化的方向来影响标签 - 模板不匹配。
