Does behavioral flexibility compensate or constrain colony productivity? Relationship among age structure, labor allocation, and production of workers in ant colonies

Journal of Insect Behavior

Volumn 9, Issue 4, 1996, Pages 557-569

  Nakata, Kensuke ^a  

^a KYOTO UNIVERSITY   (Japan)

Author keywords

Age polyethism; Age structure; Behavioral flexibility; Colony economy; Ponerine ant; Productivity

Indexed keywords

EID: 0029957450     PISSN: 08927553     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1007/BF02213880     Document Type: Article

References (25)

1. Altmann, J. (1974). Observational study of behaviours: samplig methods. Behaviour 49: 227-267.
2. Brian, M. V. (1956). Group form and the cause of working inefficiency in the ant Myrmica rubra L. Physiol. Zool. 29: 173-194.
3. Calabi, P., and Nonacs, P. (1994). Changing colony growth rates in Camponotus floridanus as a behavioural response to conspecific presence (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). J. Insect Behav. 7: 17-27.
4. Calabi, P., and Traniello, J. F. A. (1989). Behavioural flexibility in age castes of the ant Pheidole dentata. J. Insect Behav. 2: 663-677.
5. Cole, B. J. (1986). The social behaviour of Leptothorax allardycei (Hymenoptera, Formicidae): Time budgets and the evolution of worker reproduction. Behav. Ecol. Sociobiol. 18: 165-173.
6. Cole, B. J. (1991). Short-term activity cycles in ants: A phase-response curve and phase resetting in worker activity. J. Insect Behav. 4: 129-137.
7. Cole, B. J. (1991). Short-term activity cycles in ants: Generation of periodicity by worker interaction. Am. Nat. 137: 244-259.
8. Cole, B. J. (1992). Short-term activity cycles in ants: Age-related changes in tempo and colony synchrony. Behav. Ecol. Sociobiol. 31: 181-187.
9. Fukumoto, Y., and Abe, T. (1983). Social organization of colony movement in the tropical ponerine ant, Diacamma rugosum (Le Guillou). J. Ethol. 1: 101-108.
10. Fukumoto, Y., Abe, T., and Taki, A. (1989). A novel form of colony organization in the "queenless" ant Diacamma rugosum. Physiol. Ecol. Japan 26: 55-61.
11. Gordon, D. M. (1987). Group-level dynamics in harvester ants: Young colonies and the role of patrolling. Anim. Behav. 35: 833-843.
12. Gordon, D. M. (1991). Variation and change in behavioural ecology. Ecology 72: 1196-1203.
13. Lenoir, A. (1979). Feeding behaviour in young societies of the ant Tapinoma erraticum L.: Trophallaxis and polyethism. Insectes Soc. 26: 19-37.
14. Lenoir, A. (1987). Factors determining polyethism in social insects. In Pasteels, J. M., and Deneubourg, J.-L. (eds.), From Individual to Collective Behaviour in Social Insects, Birkhäuser Verlag, Basel, pp. 219-240.
15. Nakata, K. (1995). Age polyethism, idiosyncrasy and behavioural flexibility in the queenless ponerine ant, Diacamma sp. J. Ethol. 13: 113-123.
16. Oster, G. F., and Wilson, E. O. (1978). Caste and Ecology in the Social Insects, Princeton University Press, Princeton, NJ.
17. Peeters, C., and Billen, J. P. J. (1991). A novel exocrine gland inside the thoracic appendages ("gemmae") of the queenless ant Diacamma australe. Experientia 47: 229-231.
18. Peelers, C., and Tsuji, K. (1993). Reproductive conflict among ant workers in Diacamma sp. from Japan: Dominance and egg cannibalism in the absence of the gamergate. Insectes Soc. 40: 119-136.
19. Robinson, G. E., Page, R. E., Strambi, C., and Strambi, A. (1992). Colony integration in honey bees: Mechanisms of behavioural reversion. Ethology 90: 336-348.
20. Seeley, T. D. (1982). Adaptive significance of the age polyethism schedule in honeybee colonies. Behav. Ecol. Sociobiol. 11: 287-293.
21. Tsuji, K. (1994). Inter-colonial selection for the maintenance of cooperative breeding in the ant Pristomyrmex pungens: A laboratory experiment. Behav. Ecol. Sociobiol. 35: 109-113.
22. Wheeler, W. M., and Chapman, J. W. (1992). The mating of Diacamma. Psyche 29: 209-211.
23. Wilson, E. O. (1971). The Insect Societies, Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, Cambridge, MA.
24. Wilson, E. O. (1976). Behavioural discretization and the number of castes in an ant species. Behav. Ecol. Sociobiol. 1: 141-154.
25. Wilson, E. O., and Hölldobler, B. (1988). Dense hierarchies and mass communication as the basis of organization in ant colonies. TREE 3: 65-68.