Buczkowski Grzegorz, Kumar Ranjit, Suib Steven L, Silverman Jules
Department of Entomology, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, North Carolina 27695-7613, USA.
J Chem Ecol. 2005 Apr;31(4):829-43. doi: 10.1007/s10886-005-3547-7.
Territorial boundaries between conspecific social insect colonies are maintained through a highly developed nestmate recognition system modulated by heritable and, in some instances, nonheritable cues. Argentine ants, Linepithema humile, use both genetic and environmentally derived cues to discriminate nestmates from nonnestmates. We explored the possibility that intraspecific aggression in the Argentine ant might diminish when colonies shared a common diet. After segregating recently field-collected colony pairs into high or moderate aggression categories, we examined the effect of one of three diets: two hydrocarbon-rich insect prey, Blattella germanica and Supella longipalpa, and an artificial (insect-free) diet, on the magnitude of aggression loss. Aggression diminished between colony pairs that were initially moderately aggressive. However, initially highly aggressive colony pairs maintained high levels of injurious aggression throughout the study, independent of diet type. Each diet altered the cuticular hydrocarbon profile by contributing unique, diet-specific cues. We suggest that acquisition of common exogenous nestmate recognition cues from shared food sources may diminish aggression and promote fusion in neighboring colonies of the Argentine ant.
同种社会性昆虫群落之间的领地边界是通过一个高度发达的巢伴识别系统来维持的，该系统由可遗传的，在某些情况下也由不可遗传的线索调节。阿根廷蚁（Linepithema humile）利用遗传和环境衍生的线索来区分巢伴和非巢伴。我们探讨了在群落共享相同食物时，阿根廷蚁种内攻击行为可能会减少的可能性。在将最近从野外采集的群落对分为高攻击或中等攻击类别后，我们研究了三种食物之一的影响：两种富含碳氢化合物的昆虫猎物，即德国小蠊（Blattella germanica）和长翅迅足长蝽（Supella longipalpa），以及一种人工（无昆虫）食物，对攻击行为减少程度的影响。最初具有中等攻击性的群落对之间的攻击行为减少了。然而，最初具有高度攻击性的群落对在整个研究过程中保持着高水平的伤害性攻击，与食物类型无关。每种食物都通过提供独特的、特定于食物的线索改变了表皮碳氢化合物的特征。我们认为，从共享食物来源中获取共同的外源巢伴识别线索可能会减少攻击行为，并促进相邻阿根廷蚁群落的融合。
