Abstract
Aphid honeydew is one of the main energy sources for various ants in the temperate zone, nevertheless relatively little is known about the organization of the work of honeydew foragers (aphid milkers). This study focuses the honeydew collecting strate- gies used by different ants in steppe and forest multi-species communities in Western Siberia. The behaviour of marked foragers of 12 species (Formica - 7, Lasius - 2, Camponotus - 1, Myrmica - 2) was recorded. Depending the degree of the aphid milker specializa- tion and degree of protection of the aphids five honeydew collecting strategies of various complexity were distinguished: unspecialized foragers in (I) unprotected aphid colonies (attended by ants 95% of time); (III) low professional specialization (ants on duty constantly attending aphid colonies); (IV) medium and (V) high professional specialization (clear division of tasks: honeydew collecting by shepherds and protection of trophobionts by guards; and honeydew transportation by transporters in V). Task specialization of the honeydew foragers is facultative: different ant taxa demonstrate a certain range of the honeydew collecting strategies of different complexities (Formica - I-V, Lasius - I-II, Camponotus - III, Myrmica - I-II) depending the needs of their colony. The strategy used by ants did not depend the species of aphid attended, but is strongly dependent the species of ant, their colony size, available food resources and seasonality. In summer, the aphid milker specialization becomes more complex as ant colony size increases at both intra- and inter-specific levels and when food is scarce. In autumn Formica s. str. ants, which have the most advanced foraging strategy, adopt a simpler honeydew collecting strategy. Overall, the variety of hon- eydew foraging strategies seems to reflect the unequal contribution of dif ferent ants in forming trophobiotic interactions with aphids.
Highlights
Social insects dominate many terrestrial ecosystems (Wilson, 1971)
This study focuses on the honeydew collecting strategies of the different members of multi-species ant communities and the factors that affect the functional differentiation of aphid milkers
Almost all of the aphid species were attended by several different species of ants, except the aphid Stomaphis quercus (Linnaeus), which was only tended by Lasius fuliginosus (Latreille) in Siberia
Summary
Social insects (ants, bees, wasps and termites) dominate many terrestrial ecosystems (Wilson, 1971) Their largest colonies consist of thousands to millions of workers (Beshers & Fewell, 2001; Jeanne & Taylor, 2009). In recent years the organization of work in social insect societies has been actively explored both at the colony level (division of labour) and within small groups of foragers that have the same goal (Jeanne, 1991; Ratnieks & Anderson, 1999). These small groups of foragers appear to be a good model for investigating the interactions between individual insects. -called task partitioning (the division of discrete task among workers within a team) is quite often recorded for foragers of social insects, ants, when collecting and transporting food or other materials (Franks, 1986; Anderson et al, 2001; Robson & Traniello, 2002; Czaczkes & Ratnieks, 2013), but even the most successful ant worker teams (Anderson & Franks, 2001) usually disperse after finishing a job (Franks et al, 2001)
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