Mailleux Anne-Catherine, Detrain Claire, Deneubourg Jean-Louis
Laboratoire de Lutte Biologique et Ecologie Spatiale, Science Department, Université Libre de Bruxelles, Avenue F.D. Roosevelt 50, Bruxelles B-1050, Belgium.
J Insect Physiol. 2005 Mar;51(3):297-304. doi: 10.1016/j.jinsphys.2004.12.001.
In the ant Lasius niger, the ability to ingest their own desired volume is the key criterion that rules the recruiting behaviour of scouts. This volume acts as a threshold triggering the trail-laying response of foragers. In this paper, we show that this desired volume is specific to each individual and is kept constant over successive trips to a food source. This individual specificity contrasts with the variability of all individual desired volumes within the colony. In this study, it is also shown that, among L. niger foragers, 14% never participate in the formation of the chemical pathway and never lay a trail over successive trips. Among the others foragers, interindividual differences in the persistence of trail-laying behaviour over successive trips are observed but do not rely on an individual specialisation, in which some ants would lay a trail more frequently and persistently than other scouts. We discuss how an individual in the foraging behaviour can play an essential role in the regulation of food retrieval dynamics.
在黑蚁（Lasius niger）中，摄取自身所需食物量的能力是决定侦察蚁招募行为的关键标准。这个量作为一个阈值，触发觅食者的路径标记反应。在本文中，我们表明这个所需食物量因个体而异，并且在连续前往食物源的过程中保持不变。这种个体特异性与蚁群内所有个体所需食物量的变异性形成对比。在本研究中，还表明，在黑蚁觅食者中，14% 的个体从不参与化学路径的形成，在连续的行程中也从不留下踪迹。在其他觅食者中，观察到连续行程中路径标记行为持续性的个体差异，但这并不依赖于个体专业化，即一些蚂蚁比其他侦察蚁更频繁、更持久地留下踪迹。我们讨论了觅食行为中的个体如何在食物获取动态调节中发挥重要作用。
