NDLI: Symmetry breaking in mass-recruiting ants: extent of foraging biases depends on resource quality

Content Provider	Springer Nature Link
Author	Price, R. I’Anson Grüter, C. Hughes, W. O. H Evison, S. E. F.
Copyright Year	2016
Abstract	The communication involved in the foraging behaviour of social insects is integral to their success. Many ant species use trail pheromones to make decisions about where to forage. The strong positive feedback caused by the trail pheromone is thought to create a decision between two or more options. When the two options are of identical quality, this is known as symmetry breaking, and is important because it helps colonies to monopolise food sources in a competitive environment. Symmetry breaking is thought to increase with the quantity of pheromone deposited by ants, but empirical studies exploring the factors affecting symmetry breaking are limited. Here, we tested if (i) greater disparity between two food sources increased the degree to which a higher quality food source is favoured and (ii) if the quality of identical food sources would affect the degree of symmetry breaking that occurs. Using the mass-recruiting Pharaoh ant, Monomorium pharaonis, we carried out binary choice tests to investigate how food quality affects the choice and distribution of colony foraging decisions. We found that colonies could coordinate foraging to exploit food sources of greater quality, and a greater contrast in quality between the food sources created a stronger collective decision. Contrary to prediction, we found that symmetry breaking decreased as the quality of two identical food sources increased. We discuss how stochastic effects might lead to relatively strong differences in the amount of pheromone on alternative routes when food source quality is low.Pheromones used by social insects should guide a colony via positive feedback to distribute colony members at resources in the most adaptive way given the current environment. This study shows that when food resources are of equal quality, Pharaoh ant foragers distribute themselves more evenly if the two food sources are both of high quality compared to if both are of low quality. The results highlight the way in which individual ants can modulate their response to pheromone trails which may lead colonies to exploiting resources more evenly when in a resource rich environment.
Starting Page	1813
Ending Page	1820
Page Count	8
File Format	PDF
ISSN	03405443
Journal	Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology
Volume Number	70
Issue Number	11
e-ISSN	14320762
Language	English
Publisher	Springer Berlin Heidelberg
Publisher Date	2016-07-30
Publisher Place	Berlin, Heidelberg
Access Restriction	One Nation One Subscription (ONOS)
Subject Keyword	Monomorium pharaonis Trail pheromones Symmetry breaking Colony organisation Foraging Behavioral Sciences Zoology Animal Ecology
Content Type	Text
Resource Type	Article
Subject	Animal Science and Zoology Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics

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Symmetry breaking in mass-recruiting ants: extent of foraging biases depends on resource quality

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Symmetry breaking in mass-recruiting ants: extent of foraging biases depends on resource quality

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