Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-dzt6s Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-23T07:40:01.409Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

A thermophile in the shade: light-directed nest relocation in the Costa Rican ant Ectatomma ruidum

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  30 July 2010

Terrence P. McGlynn ,
Toyin Dunn ,
Ellen Wayman  and
Andrea Romero
Terrence P. McGlynn*
Affiliation:
Department of Biology, California State University Dominguez Hills, USA
Toyin Dunn
Affiliation:
Department of Biology, California State University Dominguez Hills, USA
Ellen Wayman
Affiliation:
Department of Biology, California State University Dominguez Hills, USA
Andrea Romero
Affiliation:
Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Kansas, USA
*
1Corresponding author: Department of Biology, California State University Dominguez Hills, 1000 E. Victoria St., Carson, CA 90747USA. Email: [email protected]
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

In tropical climates, nest movements by mature ant colonies are probably widespread but the phenomenon of nest relocation is poorly described (McGlynn 2007, McGlynn et al. 2004, Smallwood 1982a). For species that nest in soil, the costs and risks associated with excavating and establishing new nests are consequential, and it is assumed that relocation occurs when the costs are offset by a more advantageous nest location (Avargues-Weber & Monnin 2009, Banschbach & Herbers 1999). Nest movements may occur to areas with greater availability of food resources or to a more favourable microclimate. Here we provide the first report of nest relocation in one of the most widespread and well described ant species in the Neotropics, Ectatomma ruidum (Roger), and we perform a manipulative experiment to test whether food availability or light environment influence nest movement.

Keywords

antcompetitionCosta Ricaemigrationenergyfoodlightrelocationserial monodomytemperature
Type
Short Communication
Information
Journal of Tropical Ecology , Volume 26 , Issue 5 , September 2010 , pp. 559 - 562
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2010

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

LITERATURE CITED

AVARGUES-WEBER, A. & MONNIN, T. 2009. Dynamics of colony emigration in the ant Aphaenogaster senilis. Insectes Sociaux 56:177–183.Google Scholar
BANSCHBACH, V. S. & HERBERS, J. M. 1999. Nest movements and population spatial structure of the forest ant Myrmica punctiventris (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). Annals of the Entomological Society of America 92:414–423.Google Scholar
BOLKER, B. M., BROOKS, M. E., CLARK, C. J., GEANGE, S. W., POULSEN, J. R., STEVENS, M. H. H. & WHITE, J.-S. S. 2009. Generalized linear mixed models: a practical guide for ecology and evolution. Trends in Ecology and Evolution 24:127–135.Google Scholar
BREED, M. D., MCGLYNN, T. P., STOCKER, E. M. & KLEIN, A. N. 1999. Thief workers and variation in nestmate recognition behavior in a ponerine ant, Ectatomma ruidum. Insectes Sociaux 46:327–331.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
COOK, S. C. & DAVIDSON, D. W. 2006. Nutritional and functional biology of exudate-feeding ants. Entomologia Experimentalis et Applicata 118:1–10.Google Scholar
FRANZ, N. M. & WCISLO, W. T. 2003. Foraging behavior in two species of Ectatomma (Formicidae: Ponerinae): individual learning of orientation and timing. Journal of Insect Behavior 16:381–410.Google Scholar
HÖLLDOBLER, B. & WILSON, E. O. 1990. The ants. Harvard University Press, Cambridge. 732 pp.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
KASPARI, M., WARD, P. S. & YUAN, M. 2004. Energy gradients and the geographic distribution of local ant diversity. Oecologia 140:407–413.Google Scholar
KUGLER, C. & BROWN, W. L. 1982. Revisionary and other studies on the ant genus Ectatomma, including the description of two new species. Search Agriculture 24:1–8.Google Scholar
LACHAUD, J. P. 1990. Foraging activity and diet in some Neotropical ponerine ants. I. Ectatomma ruidum Roger (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). Folia Entomologica Mexicana 78:241–256.Google Scholar
LESSARD, J. P., DUNN, R. R. & SANDERS, N. J. 2009. Temperature-mediated coexistence in temperate forest ant communities. Insectes Sociaux 56:149–156.Google Scholar
LEVINGS, S. C. & FRANKS, N. R. 1982. Patterns of nest dispersion in a tropical ground ant community. Ecology 63:338–344.Google Scholar
MCGLYNN, T. P. 2007. Serial monodomy in ants: an antipredator strategy? Ecological Entomology 32:621–626.Google Scholar
MCGLYNN, T. P. & KIRKSEY, S. E. 2000. The effects of food presentation and microhabitat upon resource monopoly in a ground-foraging ant (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) community. Revista de Biología Tropical 48:629–641.Google Scholar
MCGLYNN, T. P., CARR, R. A., CARSON, J. H. & BUMA, J. 2004. Frequent nest relocation in the ant Aphaenogaster araneoides: resources, competition, and natural enemies. Oikos 106:611–621.Google Scholar
NICOTRA, A. B., CHAZDON, R. L. & IRIARTE, S. V. B. 1999. Spatial heterogeneity of light and woody seedling generation in tropical wet forests. Ecology 80:1908–1926.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
SANDERS, N. J., LESSARD, J.-P., FITZPATRICK, M. C. & DUNN, R. R. 2007. Temperature, but not productivity or geometry, predicts elevational diversity gradients in ants across spatial grains. Global Ecology and Biogeography 16:640–649.Google Scholar
SANTAMARIA, C., ARMBRECHT, I. & LACHAUD, J. 2009. Nest distribution and food preferences of Ectatomma ruidum (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) in shaded and open cattle pastures of Colombia. Sociobiology 53:517–541.Google Scholar
SCHATZ, B. & LACHAUD, J. P. 2008. Effect of high nest density on spatial relationships in two dominant ectatommine ants (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). Sociobiology 51:623–643.Google Scholar
SCHATZ, B. & WCISLO, W. T. 1999. Ambush predation by the ponerine ant Ectatomma ruidum roger (Formicidae) on a sweat bee Lasioglossum umbripenne (Halicitidae), in Panama. Journal of Insect Behavior 12:641–663.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
SCHATZ, B., LACHAUD, J. P. & BEUGNON, G. 1999. Spatio-temporal learning by the ant Ectatomma ruidum. Journal of Experimental Biology 202:1897–1907.Google Scholar
SMALLWOOD, J. 1982a. Nest relocations in ants. Insectes Sociaux 29:138–147.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
SMALLWOOD, J. 1982b. The effect of shade and competition of emigration rate in the ant Aphaenogaster rudis. Ecology 63:124–134.Google Scholar