Abstract
It is well established that many ant species have evolved qualitatively distinct species-specific chemical profile that are stable over large geographical distances. Within these species profiles quantitative variations in the chemical profile allows distinct colony-specific odours to arise (chemotypes) that are shared by all colony members. This help maintains social cohesion, including defence of their colonies against all intruders, including con-specifics. How these colony -level chemotypes are maintained among nest-mates has long been debated. The two main theories are; each ant is able to biochemically adjust its chemical profile to ‘match’ that of its nest-mates and or the queen, or all nest-mates share their individually generated chemical profile via trophollaxis resulting in an average nest-mate profile. This ‘mixing’ idea is better known as the Gestalt model. Unfortunately, it has been very difficult to experimentally test these two ideas in a single experimental design. However, it is now possible using the ant Formica exsecta because the compounds used in nest-mate recognition compounds are known. We demonstrate that workers adjust their profile to ‘match’ the dominant chemical profile within that colony, hence maintaining the colony-specific chemotype and indicates that a ‘gestalt’ mechanism, i.e. profile mixing, plays no or only a minor role.
Highlights
Eusocial insects are among the most abundant of the terrestrial arthropods and of major ecological importance in most terrestrial ecosystems
Study Species Previous chemical analysis of workers from 117 F. exsecta colonies located within a 30 km radius of the Tvärminne zoological station in Hankö, Finland, revealed distinct colony-specific Z9-alkene profiles that ranged from C21:1 to C27:1 (Fig.1; Martin et al 2013)
A matching model can explain the data generated by this study since the gestalt model predicts a mixing of profiles to some intermediate profile
Summary
Eusocial insects are among the most abundant of the terrestrial arthropods and of major ecological importance in most terrestrial ecosystems. Recognition between units is a fundamental characteristic of all biological systems across all levels of organisation (Wyatt 2003). In social insects a ‘recognition unit’ is often the colony, which consists of tens, thousands or even millions of individual workers. In large colonies it is unlikely that workers could learn every individual odour. A simpler solution is for all nest-mate to have the same odour, preserving the integrity of the colony. This ensures that all altruistic behaviours of workers (e.g. nest defence and caring for the queen’s offspring) are directed towards their relatives
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