Coexisting in harsh environments: Temperature-based foraging patterns of two desert leafcutter ants (Hymenoptera: Formicidae: Attini)

Dominant herbivores, like leafcutter ants, have a strong impact on the ecosystems they inhabit. Understanding which factors regulate their foraging rates is crucial for understanding ecosystem dynamics. In desert habitats, environmental factors, such as temperature, play a major role in regulating a...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Publicado: 2017
Materias:
Acromyrmex
Foraging
Herbivory
Leafcutter ants
Temperature
Acceso en línea:https://bibliotecadigital.exactas.uba.ar/collection/paper/document/paper_19944136_v25_n_p41_NobuaBehrmann
http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12110/paper_19944136_v25_n_p41_NobuaBehrmann
Aporte de:
Biblioteca Digital - Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales (UBA) de Universidad de Buenos Aires
id paper:paper_19944136_v25_n_p41_NobuaBehrmann
record_format dspace
spelling paper:paper_19944136_v25_n_p41_NobuaBehrmann2023-06-08T16:32:53Z Coexisting in harsh environments: Temperature-based foraging patterns of two desert leafcutter ants (Hymenoptera: Formicidae: Attini) Acromyrmex Foraging Herbivory Leafcutter ants Temperature Dominant herbivores, like leafcutter ants, have a strong impact on the ecosystems they inhabit. Understanding which factors regulate their foraging rates is crucial for understanding ecosystem dynamics. In desert habitats, environmental factors, such as temperature, play a major role in regulating ants' behavior. We studied the role of ground temperature in regulating daily and seasonal activity patterns of two coexisting leafcutters ant species, Acromyrmex lobicornis (EMERY, 1888) and A. striatus (ROGER, 1863), in the Monte desert of Argentina. We measured the variations in activity levels and soil temperature every two hours throughout the day in colonies of both species every season for two consecutive years. Temperature was a good predictor of both the timing of colony activation (the onset and end of their daily foraging activities) and foraging intensity (the number of workers devoted to foraging tasks). However, temperature affected each species differently: Acromyrmex lobicornis foraged at lower temperatures (10 - 35°C) than A. striatus (27 - 45°C). Our results suggest that these two species have different thermal tolerance ranges that result in temporally separated foraging activities. We suggest that interference competition may have driven this temperature and temporal specialization in these two sympatric species, given their similar sizes and diets. Field observations of activity vs. temperature in allopatry, and behavioral tests in controlled conditions should provide further evidence to test this hypothesis. © 2017 Österreichische Gesellschaft für Entomofaunistik. 2017 https://bibliotecadigital.exactas.uba.ar/collection/paper/document/paper_19944136_v25_n_p41_NobuaBehrmann http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12110/paper_19944136_v25_n_p41_NobuaBehrmann
institution Universidad de Buenos Aires
institution_str I-28
repository_str R-134
collection Biblioteca Digital - Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales (UBA)
topic Acromyrmex
Foraging
Herbivory
Leafcutter ants
Temperature
spellingShingle Acromyrmex
Foraging
Herbivory
Leafcutter ants
Temperature
Coexisting in harsh environments: Temperature-based foraging patterns of two desert leafcutter ants (Hymenoptera: Formicidae: Attini)
topic_facet Acromyrmex
Foraging
Herbivory
Leafcutter ants
Temperature
description Dominant herbivores, like leafcutter ants, have a strong impact on the ecosystems they inhabit. Understanding which factors regulate their foraging rates is crucial for understanding ecosystem dynamics. In desert habitats, environmental factors, such as temperature, play a major role in regulating ants' behavior. We studied the role of ground temperature in regulating daily and seasonal activity patterns of two coexisting leafcutters ant species, Acromyrmex lobicornis (EMERY, 1888) and A. striatus (ROGER, 1863), in the Monte desert of Argentina. We measured the variations in activity levels and soil temperature every two hours throughout the day in colonies of both species every season for two consecutive years. Temperature was a good predictor of both the timing of colony activation (the onset and end of their daily foraging activities) and foraging intensity (the number of workers devoted to foraging tasks). However, temperature affected each species differently: Acromyrmex lobicornis foraged at lower temperatures (10 - 35°C) than A. striatus (27 - 45°C). Our results suggest that these two species have different thermal tolerance ranges that result in temporally separated foraging activities. We suggest that interference competition may have driven this temperature and temporal specialization in these two sympatric species, given their similar sizes and diets. Field observations of activity vs. temperature in allopatry, and behavioral tests in controlled conditions should provide further evidence to test this hypothesis. © 2017 Österreichische Gesellschaft für Entomofaunistik.
title Coexisting in harsh environments: Temperature-based foraging patterns of two desert leafcutter ants (Hymenoptera: Formicidae: Attini)
title_short Coexisting in harsh environments: Temperature-based foraging patterns of two desert leafcutter ants (Hymenoptera: Formicidae: Attini)
title_full Coexisting in harsh environments: Temperature-based foraging patterns of two desert leafcutter ants (Hymenoptera: Formicidae: Attini)
title_fullStr Coexisting in harsh environments: Temperature-based foraging patterns of two desert leafcutter ants (Hymenoptera: Formicidae: Attini)
title_full_unstemmed Coexisting in harsh environments: Temperature-based foraging patterns of two desert leafcutter ants (Hymenoptera: Formicidae: Attini)
title_sort coexisting in harsh environments: temperature-based foraging patterns of two desert leafcutter ants (hymenoptera: formicidae: attini)
publishDate 2017
url https://bibliotecadigital.exactas.uba.ar/collection/paper/document/paper_19944136_v25_n_p41_NobuaBehrmann
http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12110/paper_19944136_v25_n_p41_NobuaBehrmann
_version_ 1768546181530517504

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