Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA 90095, USA.
Biocircuits Institute, University of California, San Diego, San Diego, CA 92093, USA.
J Exp Biol. 2018 Dec 12;221(Pt 24):jeb188722. doi: 10.1242/jeb.188722.
Uncovering how and why animals explore their environment is fundamental for understanding population dynamics, the spread of invasive species, species interactions, etc. In social animals, individuals within a group can vary in their exploratory behavior, and the behavioral composition of the group can determine its collective success. Workers of the invasive Argentine ant () exhibit individual variation in exploratory behavior, which affects the colony's collective nest selection behavior. Here, we examine the mechanisms underlying this behavioral variation in exploratory behavior and determine its implications for the ecology of this species. We first establish that individual variation in exploratory behavior is repeatable and consistent across situations. We then show a relationship between exploratory behavior and the expression of genes that have been previously linked with other behaviors in social insects. Specifically, we found a negative relationship between exploratory behavior and the expression of the () gene. Finally, we determine how colonies allocate exploratory individuals in natural conditions. We found that ants from inside the nest are the least exploratory individuals, whereas workers on newly formed foraging trails are the most exploratory individuals. Furthermore, we found temporal differences throughout the year: in early-mid spring, when new resources emerge, workers are more exploratory than at the end of winter, potentially allowing the colony to find and exploit new resources. These findings reveal the importance of individual variation in behavior for the ecology of social animals.
揭示动物如何以及为何探索其环境对于理解种群动态、入侵物种的传播、物种相互作用等至关重要。在社会性动物中，群体中的个体在探索行为上可能存在差异，而群体的行为组成可以决定其集体成功。入侵的阿根廷蚂蚁（）的工蚁表现出探索行为的个体差异，这影响了蚁群的集体巢选择行为。在这里，我们研究了这种探索行为的行为变异性的潜在机制，并确定了其对该物种生态学的影响。我们首先确定探索行为的个体差异在不同情况下是可重复且一致的。然后，我们展示了探索行为与先前与社会性昆虫其他行为相关的基因表达之间的关系。具体来说，我们发现探索行为与（）基因的表达呈负相关。最后，我们确定了在自然条件下蚁群如何分配探索性个体。我们发现，来自巢内的蚂蚁是最不具探索性的个体，而新形成的觅食路径上的工蚁则是最具探索性的个体。此外，我们还发现了全年的时间差异：在早春中期，当新资源出现时，工蚁比冬季末期更具探索性，这可能使蚁群能够找到并利用新资源。这些发现揭示了行为个体差异对社会性动物生态学的重要性。
