Effects of trail gradient on leaf tissue transport and load size selection in leaf-cutter ants
نویسندگان
چکیده
منابع مشابه
Perceptual differences in trail-following leaf-cutting ants relate to body size.
Leaf-cutting ants of the genus Atta have highly size-polymorphic workers, and size is related to division of labor. We studied trail-following behavior of different-sized workers in a laboratory colony of Atta vollenweideri. For small and large workers, we measured responsiveness and preference to artificial conspecific and heterospecific pheromone trails made from poison gland extracts of A. v...
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We propose a simple mathematical model by applying Michaelis-Menton equations of enzyme kinetics to study the mutualistic interaction between the leaf cutter ant and its fungus garden at the early stage of colony expansion. We derive sufficient conditions on the extinction and coexistence of these two species. In addition, we give a region of initial condition that leads to the extinction of tw...
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Host-parasite dynamics can be altered when a host is infected by multiple parasite genotypes. The different strains of parasite are expected to compete for the limited host resources, potentially affecting the survival and reproduction of the host as well as the infecting parasites. Fungus-growing ants, including the well-known leaf-cutters, are an emerging model system for studying the evoluti...
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HostÐparasite dynamics can be altered when a host is infected by multiple parasite genotypes. The different strains of parasite are expected to compete for the limited host resources, potentially affecting the survival and reproduction of the host as well as the infecting parasites. Fungus-growing ants, including the well-known leaf-cutters, are an emerging model system for studying the evoluti...
متن کاملPolymorphic microsatellite markers for the symbiotic fungi cultivated by leaf cutter ants (Attini, Formicidae).
We developed 23 polymorphic microsatellite markers for the symbiotic fungi cultivated by leaf cutter ants, then assessed allelic variation in North American leafcutter-fungus populations (Mexico, Cuba, USA). Polyploidy was indicated by 21 of the 23 loci, consistent with the multinucleate nature of leafcutter fungi. Microsatellite fingerprinting can now assess fungal genetic variation within lea...
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ژورنال
عنوان ژورنال: Behavioral Ecology
سال: 2008
ISSN: 1465-7279,1045-2249
DOI: 10.1093/beheco/arn032