NDLI: Task-Matching and Short-Term Size Shifts in Foragers of the Harvester Ant, Messor pergandei (Hymenoptera: Formicidae)

Please wait, while we are loading the content...

Interactions of the Males and Females of Three Sympatric Drosophila virilis-Group Species, D. montana, D. littoralis, and D. lummei, (Diptera: Drosophilidae) in Intra- and Interspecific Courtships in the Wild and in the Laboratory

Egg Deposition Behavior in the Haplodiploid Sawfly Athalia rosae ruficornis Jakovlev (Hymenoptera: Symphyta: Tenthredinidae)

Recognition Behavior of the Cassava Mealybug Phenacoccus manihoti Matile-Ferrero (Homoptera: Pseudococcidae) at the Leaf Surface of Different Host Plants

Task-Matching and Short-Term Size Shifts in Foragers of the Harvester Ant, Messor pergandei (Hymenoptera: Formicidae)

Journal of Insect Behavior : Volume 11, Issue 2, March 1998

Journal of Insect Behavior : Volume 11, Issue 1, January 1998

Journal of Insect Behavior : Volume 10

Task-Matching and Short-Term Size Shifts in Foragers of the Harvester Ant, Messor pergandei (Hymenoptera: Formicidae)

Content Provider	Springer Nature Link
Author	Waser, Nickolas M.
Copyright Year	1998
Abstract	Some social insects produce workers of variable size and/or shape. One hypothesis to explain such variation is that it increases colony efficiency in performing diverse tasks, with greater efficiency leading to greater colony-level fitness. Using the granivorous ant Messor pergandei, which produces a unimodal distribution of worker sizes, I explored two corollaries of this “ergonomic” hypothesis: that there should be detectable task-matching and that the mean size should shift predictably with a change in task. In five experiments conducted in different years and sites in California deserts, colonies were baited with fragments of wheat or millet ground and sieved to different sizes. In six of eight colonies so baited the minimum linear dimension or mass of seeds carried by foragers was significantly related to forager size, with r$^{2}$ values ranging from 3 to 30%. In four of the five experiments, colonies were subsequently baited with either large seed fragments alone or small fragments alone. In three of these four experiments I detected a rapid response, over a few hours or days, in which foragers deployed by colonies shifted to larger or smaller mean size in directions predicted by size of the bait. These results suggest that an ergonomic function is one contributor to worker size polymorphism in M. pergandei. Although task-matching did not explain a substantial amount of the variance in forager size in all experiments, the rapid size shifts provide behavioral evidence that task-matching is important to colonies.
Starting Page	451
Ending Page	462
Page Count	12
File Format	PDF
ISSN	08927553
Journal	Journal of Insect Behavior
Volume Number	11
Issue Number	3
e-ISSN	15728889
Language	English
Publisher	Kluwer Academic Publishers-Plenum Publishers
Publisher Date	1998-01-01
Publisher Place	New York
Access Restriction	One Nation One Subscription (ONOS)
Subject Keyword	Ecology Evolutionary Biology Zoology Animal Physiology Animal Systematics/Taxonomy/Biogeography
Content Type	Text
Resource Type	Article
Subject	Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics Insect Science

Sl.	Authority	Responsibilities	Communication Details
1	Ministry of Education (GoI), Department of Higher Education	Sanctioning Authority	https://www.education.gov.in/ict-initiatives
2	Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur	Host Institute of the Project: The host institute of the project is responsible for providing infrastructure support and hosting the project	https://www.iitkgp.ac.in
3	National Digital Library of India Office, Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur	The administrative and infrastructural headquarters of the project	Dr. B. Sutradhar bsutra@ndl.gov.in
4	Project PI / Joint PI	Principal Investigator and Joint Principal Investigators of the project	Dr. B. Sutradhar bsutra@ndl.gov.in Prof. Saswat Chakrabarti will be added soon
5	Website/Portal (Helpdesk)	Queries regarding NDLI and its services	support@ndl.gov.in
6	Contents and Copyright Issues	Queries related to content curation and copyright issues	content@ndl.gov.in
7	National Digital Library of India Club (NDLI Club)	Queries related to NDLI Club formation, support, user awareness program, seminar/symposium, collaboration, social media, promotion, and outreach	clubsupport@ndl.gov.in
8	Digital Preservation Centre (DPC)	Assistance with digitizing and archiving copyright-free printed books	dpc@ndl.gov.in
9	IDR Setup or Support	Queries related to establishment and support of Institutional Digital Repository (IDR) and IDR workshops	idr@ndl.gov.in

Recruitment Behavior in the Ant Genus Polyrhachis (Hymenoptera, Formicidae)

Short Communication: Lack of Plasticity in the Behavior of Queens of the Ant Leptothorax rugatulus Emery (Formicidae: Hymenoptera)

Foraging Area Marking in Two Related Tetramorium Ant Species (Hymenoptera: Formicidae)

Mixed colonies and hybridisation of Messor harvester ant species (Hymenoptera: Formicidae)

Microclimatic Conditions Regulate Surface Activity in Harvester Ants Messor barbarus

Mating Behavior and Colony Founding of the Slave-Making Ant Formica sanguinea (Hymenoptera: Formicidae)

Raiding and Foraging Behavior of the Blood-Red Ant, Formica sanguinea Latr. (Hymenoptera, Formicidae)

Predatory Behavior in Dominant Arboreal Ant Species: The Case of Crematogaster sp. (Hymenoptera: Formicidae)

Male Behavior and Regulation of Worker Mating in a Ponerine Ant, Pachycondyla (Bothroponera) sp. (Hymenoptera: Formicidae)

Task-Matching and Short-Term Size Shifts in Foragers of the Harvester Ant, Messor pergandei (Hymenoptera: Formicidae)

Similar Documents

Recruitment Behavior in the Ant Genus Polyrhachis (Hymenoptera, Formicidae)

Short Communication: Lack of Plasticity in the Behavior of Queens of the Ant Leptothorax rugatulus Emery (Formicidae: Hymenoptera)

Foraging Area Marking in Two Related Tetramorium Ant Species (Hymenoptera: Formicidae)

Mixed colonies and hybridisation of Messor harvester ant species (Hymenoptera: Formicidae)

Microclimatic Conditions Regulate Surface Activity in Harvester Ants Messor barbarus

Mating Behavior and Colony Founding of the Slave-Making Ant Formica sanguinea (Hymenoptera: Formicidae)

Raiding and Foraging Behavior of the Blood-Red Ant, Formica sanguinea Latr. (Hymenoptera, Formicidae)

Predatory Behavior in Dominant Arboreal Ant Species: The Case of Crematogaster sp. (Hymenoptera: Formicidae)

Male Behavior and Regulation of Worker Mating in a Ponerine Ant, Pachycondyla (Bothroponera) sp. (Hymenoptera: Formicidae)

Task-Matching and Short-Term Size Shifts in Foragers of the Harvester Ant, Messor pergandei (Hymenoptera: Formicidae)