Abstract
Studies investigating host-parasite systems rarely deal with multispecies interactions, and mostly explore impacts on hosts as individuals. Much less is known about the effects at colony level, when parasitism involves host organisms that form societies. We surveyed the effect of an ectoparasitic fungus, Rickia wasmannii, on kin-discrimination abilities of its host ant, Myrmica scabrinodis, identifying potential consequences at social level and subsequent changes in colony infiltration success of other organisms. Analyses of cuticular hydrocarbons (CHCs), known to be involved in insects’ discrimination processes, revealed variations in chemical profiles correlated with the infection status of the ants, that could not be explained by genetic variation tested by microsatellites. In behavioural assays, fungus-infected workers were less aggressive towards both non-nestmates and unrelated queens, enhancing the probability of polygyny. Likewise, parasitic larvae of Maculinea butterflies had a higher chance of adoption by infected colonies. Our study indicates that pathogens can modify host recognition abilities, making the society more prone to accept both conspecific and allospecific organisms.
Highlights
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Analyses of cuticular hydrocarbons (CHCs), known to be involved in insects’ discrimination processes, revealed variations in chemical profiles correlated with the infection status of the ants, that could not be explained by genetic variation tested by microsatellites
Our findings indicated that the cues used for nestmate discrimination in M. scabrinodis ants were affected by the infection of the ectoparasitic fungus R. wasmannii
Summary
HAL is a multi-disciplinary open access archive for the deposit and dissemination of scientific research documents, whether they are published or not. Relations among different organisms are characterized by a high degree of complexity which makes studies on multispecies systems difficult For this reason, many investigations focus exclusively on pairwise relationships[1,2], the outcomes of these interactions vary and depend on the context[3]. The structure of social insect colonies, in which many similar individuals live together, makes them attractive for social parasites and various pathogens[7,8] This is especially true in the case of ants due to the stability of their colonies and their mostly ground-based nesting habits, which make their colonies accessible to a plethora of organisms. Like Rickia wasmannii[9] an ectoparasitic fungus of Myrmica ants, are common in some populations www.nature.com/scientificreports/
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