Department of Ecology and Evolution, University of Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland.
School of Biological Sciences, University of Bristol, Bristol, UK.
Nat Commun. 2022 Nov 15;13(1):6985. doi: 10.1038/s41467-022-34706-7.
Many animal species divide space into a patchwork of home ranges, yet there is little consensus on the mechanisms individuals use to maintain fidelity to particular locations. Theory suggests that animal movement could be based upon simple behavioural rules that use local information such as olfactory deposits, or global strategies, such as long-range biases toward landmarks. However, empirical studies have rarely attempted to distinguish between these mechanisms. Here, we perform individual tracking experiments on four species of social insects, and find that colonies consist of different groups of workers that inhabit separate but partially-overlapping spatial zones. Our trajectory analysis and simulations suggest that worker movement is consistent with two local mechanisms: one in which workers increase movement diffusivity outside their primary zone, and another in which workers modulate turning behaviour when approaching zone boundaries. Parallels with other organisms suggest that local mechanisms might represent a universal method for spatial partitioning in animal populations.
许多动物物种将空间划分为拼凑的栖息地范围，但对于个体如何保持对特定位置的忠诚度，人们的共识很少。理论表明，动物的运动可能基于简单的行为规则，这些规则利用局部信息，如嗅觉沉积物，或全局策略，如对地标长距离的偏向。然而，实证研究很少试图区分这些机制。在这里，我们对四种社会性昆虫进行了个体跟踪实验，发现蚁群由不同的工蚁群体组成，它们栖息在独立但部分重叠的空间区域。我们的轨迹分析和模拟表明，工蚁的运动与两种局部机制一致：一种是工蚁在其主要区域外增加运动扩散性，另一种是工蚁在接近区域边界时调节转向行为。与其他生物的相似之处表明，局部机制可能代表了动物种群空间划分的一种普遍方法。
