A colony-level response to disease control in a leaf-cutting ant
نویسندگان
چکیده
منابع مشابه
Novel fungal disease in complex leaf-cutting ant societies
1. The leaf-cutting ants practise an advanced system of mycophagy where they grow a fungus as a food source. As a consequence of parasite threats to their crops, they have evolved a system of morphological, behavioural, and chemical defences, particularly against fungal pathogens (mycopathogens). 2. Specific fungal diseases of the leaf-cutting ants themselves have not been described, possibly b...
متن کاملGenetic diversity and disease resistance in leaf-cutting ant societies.
Multiple mating by females (polyandry) remains hard to explain because, while it has substantial costs, clear benefits have remained elusive. The problem is acute in the social insects because polyandry is probably particularly costly for females and most material benefits of the behavior are unlikely to apply. It has been suggested that a fitness benefit may arise from the more genetically div...
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Our study examines how the mutualism between Atta colombica leaf-cutting ants and their cultivated fungus is influenced by the presence of diverse foliar endophytic fungi (endophytes) at high densities in tropical leaf tissues. We conducted laboratory choice trials in which ant colonies chose between Cordia alliodora seedlings with high (E(high)) or low (E(low)) densities of endophytes. The E(h...
متن کاملFungal-Fungal Interactions in Leaf-Cutting Ant Agriculture
Many organisms participate in symbiotic relationships with other organisms, yet studies of symbioses typically have focused on the reciprocal costs and benefits within a particular host-symbiont pair. Recent studies indicate that many ecological interactions involve alliances of symbionts acting together as mutualistic consortia against other consortia. Such interacting consortia are likely to ...
متن کاملWaste management in the leaf-cutting ant Atta colombica
Unlike most leaf-cutting ants, which have underground waste dumps, the leaf-cutting ant Atta colombica dumps waste in a heap outside the nest. Waste is hazardous, as it is contaminated with pathogens. We investigated the organization of the workforce involved in outside-nest tasks (foraging, waste disposal) and quantified task switching and heap location to test hypotheses that these tasks are ...
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ژورنال
عنوان ژورنال: Naturwissenschaften
سال: 2002
ISSN: 0028-1042,1432-1904
DOI: 10.1007/s00114-002-0316-0