Full metadata
Title
Egg policing and fertility signaling across colony development in the ant Camponotus floridanus
Description
Of all the signals and cues that orchestrate the activities of a social insect colony, the reproductives' fertility pheromones are perhaps the most fundamental. These pheromones regulate reproductive division of labor, a defining characteristic of eusociality. Despite their critical role, reproductive fertility pheromones are not evenly expressed across the development of a social insect colony and may even be absent in the earliest colony stages. In the ant Camponotus floridanus, queens of incipient colonies do not produce the cuticular hydrocarbons that serve as fertility and egg-marking signals in this species. My dissertation investigates the consequences of the dramatic change in the quantity of these pheromones that occurs as the colony grows. C. floridanus workers from large, established colonies use egg surface hydrocarbons to discriminate among eggs. Eggs with surface hydrocarbons typical of eggs laid by established queens are nurtured, whereas eggs lacking these signals (i.e., eggs laid by workers and incipient queens) are destroyed. I characterized how workers from incipient colonies responded to eggs lacking queen fertility hydrocarbons. I found that established-queen-laid eggs, incipient-queen-laid eggs, and worker-laid eggs were not destroyed by workers at this colony stage. Destruction of worker-laid eggs is a form of policing, and theoretical models predict that policing should be strongest in incipient colonies. Since there was no evidence of policing by egg-eating in incipient C. floridanus colonies, I searched for evidence of another policing mechanism at this colony stage. Finding none, I discuss reasons why policing behavior may not be expressed in incipient colonies. I then considered the mechanism that accounts for the change in workers' response to eggs. By manipulating ants' egg experience and testing their egg-policing decisions, I found that ants use a combination of learned and innate criteria to discriminate between targets of care and destruction. Finally, I investigated how the increasing strength of queen-fertility hydrocarbons affects nestmate recognition, which also relies on cuticular hydrocarbons. I found that queens with strong fertility hydrocarbons can be transferred between established colonies without aggression, but they cannot be introduced into incipient colonies. Queens from incipient colonies cannot be transferred into incipient or established colonies.
Date Created
2012
Contributors
- Moore, Dani (Author)
- Liebig, Juergen (Thesis advisor)
- Gadau, Juergen (Committee member)
- Pratt, Stephen (Committee member)
- Smith, Brian (Committee member)
- Rutowski, Ronald (Committee member)
- Arizona State University (Publisher)
Topical Subject
Resource Type
Extent
viii, 107 p. : ill
Language
eng
Copyright Statement
In Copyright
Primary Member of
Peer-reviewed
No
Open Access
No
Handle
https://hdl.handle.net/2286/R.I.15944
Statement of Responsibility
by Dani Moore
Description Source
Viewed on May 21, 2014
Level of coding
full
Note
thesis
Partial requirement for: Ph. D., Arizona State University, 2012
bibliography
Includes bibliographical references (p. 68-83)
Field of study: Biology
System Created
- 2013-01-17 06:39:15
System Modified
- 2021-08-30 01:43:57
- 3 years 2 months ago
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