Abstract
Sociality increases exposure to pathogens. Therefore, social insects have developed a wide range of behavioural defences, known as ‘social immunity’. However, the benefits of these behaviours in terms of colony survival have been scarcely investigated. We tested the survival advantage of prophylaxis, i.e. corpse removal, in ants. Over 50 days, we compared the survival of ants in colonies that were free to remove corpses with those that were restricted in their corpse removal. From Day 8 onwards, the survival of adult workers was significantly higher in colonies that were allowed to remove corpses normally. Overall, larvae survived better than adults, but were slightly affected by the presence of corpses in the nest. When removal was restricted, ants removed as many corpses as they could and moved the remaining corpses away from brood, typically to the nest corners. These results show the importance of nest maintenance and prophylactic behaviour in social insects.
Highlights
The social contacts that come with group living increase the risk of pathogen transmission, for social insects, with their high density of genetically related individuals [1]
We have shown that prophylaxis through corpse removal enhances ant survival, even if no additional pathogen load is introduced to the nest
Along with other prophylactic behaviours, corpse removal acts as a first line of defence against horizontal transmission of pathogens, allowing reduced investment in costly personal immune defences [16]
Summary
The social contacts that come with group living increase the risk of pathogen transmission, for social insects, with their high density of genetically related individuals [1]. Social insects are known to defend themselves against disease outbreaks with a set of socially performed prophylactic behaviours known as ‘social immunity’. Recent findings have shown how diverse and sophisticated these behaviours are, ranging from pathogen avoidance while nesting, grooming with application of antimicrobial compounds and incorporation of antimicrobial material in the nest (reviewed in [2]). Social insects use specific behaviours to avoid horizontal transmission of pathogens. Diseased individuals may leave the nest on their own before they die [3,4] or be removed by nest-mates [5]. Termite workers isolate dead individuals by burying them [6], whereas honeybees and many ant species transport them outside the colony [7,8]
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