相对湿度对两种木工蚁的蚁群建立和蚁后存活率的作用。

Role of relative humidity in colony founding and queen survivorship in two carpenter ant species.

机构信息

Rio Tinto Minerals, 8051 E. Maplewood Ave., Greenwood Village, CO 80111-4742, USA.

出版信息

J Econ Entomol. 2011 Jun;104(3):740-4. doi: 10.1603/ec10319.

Abstract

Conditions necessary for optimal colony foundation in two carpenter ant species, Camponotus modoc Wheeler and Camponotus vicinus Mayr, were studied. Camponotus modoc and C. vicinus queens were placed in Douglas-fir, Pseudotsuga menziesii (Mirb. Franco) and Styrofoam blocks conditioned in sealed chambers at 70, 80, or 100% RH. Nanitic workers produced after 12 wk were used to assess the effects of substrate and moisture content on colony initiation. Queens of C. vicinus in Douglas-fir and Styrofoam produced worker numbers that did not differ significantly with moisture content; however, the number of colonies initiated by C. modoc differed significantly with moisture content. The results indicate that colony founding in C. vicinus is less sensitive to moisture content than C. modoc for Douglas-fir and Styrofoam. In another test, groups of queens of each species were exposed to 20, 50, 70, and 100% RH and the time until 50% mortality occurred was recorded for each species. C. vicinus lived significantly longer at each of the test humidities than C. modoc, suggesting that the former species is adapted to better survive under xeric conditions.

摘要

研究了两种木匠蚁，即莫多克木匠蚁（Camponotus modoc Wheeler）和维氏木匠蚁（Camponotus vicinus Mayr），以确定最佳蚁群建立的条件。将莫多克木匠蚁和维氏木匠蚁的蚁后放置在经过密封室条件处理的花旗松、辐射松（Mirb. Franco）和泡沫塑料块中，相对湿度分别为 70%、80%或 100%。12 周后产生的纳米工蚁用于评估基质和含水量对蚁群建立的影响。在花旗松和泡沫塑料中，维氏木匠蚁的蚁后产生的工蚁数量与含水量没有显著差异；然而，莫多克木匠蚁建立的蚁群数量与含水量有显著差异。结果表明，与莫多克木匠蚁相比，维氏木匠蚁在花旗松和泡沫塑料中的蚁群建立对含水量的敏感性较低。在另一个测试中，将每个物种的一组蚁后暴露在 20%、50%、70%和 100%的相对湿度下，并记录每个物种达到 50%死亡率所需的时间。维氏木匠蚁在每个测试湿度下的存活时间明显长于莫多克木匠蚁，这表明前者更适应在干旱条件下生存。