Padget Rebecca F B, Cant Michael A, Thompson Faye J
Centre for Ecology and Conservation, College of Life and Environmental Sciences University of Exeter Cornwall UK.
Centre for Research in Animal Behaviour, College of Life and Environmental Sciences University of Exeter Exeter UK.
Ecol Evol. 2023 Mar 21;13(3):e9901. doi: 10.1002/ece3.9901. eCollection 2023 Mar.
Recognition of group members is an important adaptation in social organisms because it allows help to be directed toward kin or individuals that are likely to reciprocate, and harm to be directed toward members of competing groups. Evidence in a wide range of animals shows that responses to outgroups vary with context, suggesting that cues to group membership also depend on the social or environmental context. In termites, intergroup encounters are frequent and their outcomes highly variable, ranging from destruction of a colony to colony fusion. As well as genetic factors, nestmate recognition in social insects commonly relies on cues that are mediated by environmental factors such as food source. However, single-piece nesting termite colonies share nesting material and food source with rival colonies (their wood substrate serves as both). In principle, the shared environment of single-piece nesting termite colonies could constrain their ability to identify non-nestmates, contributing to some of the variation seen in encounters, but this has not been investigated. In this study, we raised incipient colonies of a single-piece nesting termite, , on two different wood types and conducted behavioral assays to test whether nestmate discrimination can be constrained by common environmental conditions. We found that non-nestmates elicited higher rates of identity checking and defense behavior compared to nestmates, but there was no effect of wood type on the strength of behavioral responses to non-nestmates. We also found that one key cooperative behavior (allogrooming) was performed equally toward both nestmates and non-nestmates. These findings offer no support for the hypothesis that common wood type constrains the nestmate recognition system of single piece nesting termites. We suggest that where groups encounter each other frequently in a common environment, selection will favor discrimination based on genetic and/or higher resolution environmentally mediated cues.
识别群体成员是社会生物的一种重要适应性，因为它能使帮助指向亲属或可能回报的个体，并使伤害指向竞争群体的成员。大量动物的证据表明，对外群体的反应因情境而异，这表明群体成员身份的线索也取决于社会或环境背景。在白蚁中，群体间的相遇频繁，其结果高度可变，从一个蚁群的毁灭到蚁群融合。除了遗传因素外，社会性昆虫识别同巢伙伴通常依赖于由食物来源等环境因素介导的线索。然而，单片巢型白蚁蚁群与竞争蚁群共享筑巢材料和食物来源（它们的木质基质兼具两者功能）。原则上，单片巢型白蚁蚁群的共享环境可能会限制它们识别非同巢伙伴的能力，从而导致相遇中出现一些变化，但这一点尚未得到研究。在本研究中，我们在两种不同的木材类型上饲养了单片巢型白蚁的初始蚁群，并进行行为测定，以测试同巢伙伴识别是否会受到共同环境条件的限制。我们发现，与同巢伙伴相比，非同巢伙伴引发身份检查和防御行为的频率更高，但木材类型对针对非同巢伙伴的行为反应强度没有影响。我们还发现，一种关键的合作行为（异体梳理）对同巢伙伴和非同巢伙伴的表现是一样的。这些发现不支持共同木材类型会限制单片巢型白蚁同巢伙伴识别系统的假设。我们认为，在群体在共同环境中频繁相遇的情况下，选择将有利于基于遗传和/或更高分辨率的环境介导线索的识别。
