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44 results for “Desert ant”
Figure 3 in Absence of visual cues motivates desert ants to build their own landmarks
Figure 3. Ants build their own landmark by increasing their nest hill's height (A) Experimental design. Nest hills were first measured (height) and removed from 16 salt pan nests of which only eight were afterward provided with two artificial landmarks each. 3 days later, we re-measured rebuilt nest hills. (B) Photograph of the artificial landmarks added to a nest. (C) Percentage of the original nest rebuilt at nests with landmarks present or absent (unpaired t test, *p <0.05, bars indicate median ± SD).
Figure 2 in Absence of visual cues motivates desert ants to build their own landmarks
Figure 2. Absence of a nest hill impairs the navigation of salt pan ants (A–F) Trajectories of zero-vector ants of a salt pan nest (A–C) or shore nest (D–F) with nest hill present (left) or absent (right) after 5, 7.5, and 10 m displacement (colored circumferences indicate each displacement distance). Highlighted in bold is a trajectory exemplar of an ant for each displacement distance. (G–I) Straightness scores (i.e., run length divided by beeline) of homing ants of both nest types for the different displacement distances (Kruskal-Wallis test with Dunn's multiple comparisons test for selected pairs, **p <0.01; ***p <0.001, bars indicate median ± SD). (J–L) Success rates of homing ants of both nest types for the different displacement distances (Fisher's exact test, *p <0.05). Ants that during nest search left the tracking grid (radius, 20 m) around the nest entrance were classified as ''unsuccessful'' and are represented as crosses at the edges of the arenas.
Figure 1 in Absence of visual cues motivates desert ants to build their own landmarks
Figure 1. Accuracy of long homing runs and survey of nests in a salt pan (A) GPS tracks of long foraging runs (Geo Tracker, Google Earth) (see also Figure S1). Each black dot represents a different nest. Black lines, successful homing runs; red lines, unsuccessful homing runs that resulted in the ant's death. The track that leads to colony E is displaced to fit closer to the other paths for visualization purposes. (B) Photographs of a typical salt pan nest (left) and a typical shore nest (right, photo credit: Cornelia Buehlmann). (C) Map of the salt pan with dominant environmental features (i.e., vegetation and terrain elevations) and classifications of two nest types. Nests located at least 60 m away from any shoreline are classified as salt pan nests (blue) and nests less than 40 m away from any shoreline are classified as shore nests (green). Nests situated between 40 and 60 m from any shoreline are not included in the analysis. (D) Height of nest hills at salt pan nests and shore nests (unpaired t test, n = 33; ****p <0.0001; bars indicate median and SD). See also Table S1.
Small Mammal Exclosure Study (SMES) Ant Data from Chihuahuan Desert Grassland and Shrubland at the Sevilleta National Wildlife Refuge, New Mexico (1995-2005)
Animal consumers have important roles in ecosystems, determining plant species composition and structure, regulating rates of plant production and nutrients, and altering soil structure and chemistry. This is data for numbers and species of seed harvester ant nests mapped from each of the SMES study plots. Seed harvester ant nests were mapped on each of the study plots once each year in the autumn. Ant nest maps were drawn on to pre-designed plot diagrams. Each nest was located on the diagram in reference to one of the 36 vegetation quadrat marker posts. The distance from the post, direction from the post, and species name were plotted on the map diagram. Data such as total numbers of nests of each ant species, and spatial arrangement of nests, were then taken from the diagram maps. The following question was asked: Do small mammals interact with other herbivore and granivore consumers enough to affect the species composition and abundances of other consumers such as ants?
Ecological diversification preceded geographical expansion during the evolutionary radiation of Cataglyphis desert ants
<p>Biological diversity often arises as organisms adapt to new ecological conditions (i.e. ecological opportunities) or colonise suitable areas (i.e. spatial opportunities). Cases of geographical expansion followed by local ecological divergence are well described; they result in clades comprising ecologically heterogeneous subclades. In contrast, nothing is known about evolutionary radiation events in which ecological opportunities preceded spatial spread. Here, we show that the desert ant genus <em>Cataglyphis</em> likely originated in open grassland habitats in the Middle East ~18 million years ago and became a taxon of diverse species specialising in prey of different masses. Around 9 million years ago, southern Europe and northern Africa experienced aridification and were colonised by <em>Cataglyphis</em>, which was preadapted to the harsh environmental conditions. The result was the rapid accumulation of species, and the appearance of local assemblages containing species from different lineages that still displayed ancestral foraging specialties. These findings highlight that, in <em>Cataglyphis</em>, ecological diversification happened before the genus geographically spread into newly arisen suitable habitats, resulting in a clade composed of ecologically homogeneous subclades.</p>
Foraging is prioritized over nestmate rescue in desert ants and pupae are rescued more than adults
<p><span>Social animals, and ants, in particular, exhibit a range of cooperative behaviors. One such behavior is the rescue of group members, which cannot return to the nest by themselves. However, if several group members need to be rescued, how do ants prioritize whom to save first? Furthermore, when food is offered in parallel, do ants prioritize feeding over rescuing? We studied the rescue behavior of the desert ant <em>Cataglyphis</em> <em>niger</em>. Workers invest more time in rescuing pupae than adult workers, perhaps because the value of brood is higher than that of older workers serving as foragers. Specific rescue behaviors, pulling the trapped individual or digging around it, differed when directed towards adults or pupae: rescuing workers more often pulled pupae whereas they dug more around trapped adults. Rescuing workers did not prioritize living individuals over dead ones or intact workers over injured ones indicating that trapped individuals </span><span>we</span><span>re recognized chemically rather than by their morphology or behavior. Finally, workers prioritized foraging over rescuing, perhaps because fewer workers specialize in rescue behavior than in foraging. Our analysis indeed revealed that fewer workers both foraged and rescued trapped workers than expected by chance. In conclusion, ants that rescue others exhibit a complex set of behaviors, with varying attention and specific behaviors targeted at different individuals, perhaps according to the colony's needs. Our study is important for emphasizing a relatively neglected aspect of sociality (rescue of group members) and demonstrates that the attentions of rescues differ based on the trapped nestmate's life stage.</span></p>
Foraging is prioritized over nestmate rescue in desert ants and pupae are rescued more than adults
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Ecological diversification preceded geographical expansion during the evolutionary radiation of Cataglyphis desert ants
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Central Arizona - Phoenix Urban LTER site, station Desert study sites at Central Arizona-Phoenix Urban LTER, study of animal abundance of Hymenoptera (ants, bees and wasps) in units of numberPerPitfallTrap on a yearly timescale
The EcoTrends project was established in 2004 by Dr. Debra Peters (Jornada Basin LTER, USDA-ARS Jornada Experimental Range) and Dr. Ariel Lugo (Luquillo LTER, USDA-FS Luquillo Experimental Forest) to support the collection and analysis of long-term ecological datasets. The project is a large synthesis effort focused on improving the accessibility and use of long-term data. At present, there are ~50 state and federally funded research sites that are participating and contributing to the EcoTrends project, including all 26 Long-Term Ecological Research (LTER) sites and sites funded by the USDA Agriculture Research Service (ARS), USDA Forest Service, US Department of Energy, US Geological Survey (USGS) and numerous universities. Data from the EcoTrends project are available through an exploratory web portal (http://www.ecotrends.info). This web portal enables the continuation of data compilation and accessibility by users through an interactive web application. Ongoing data compilation is updated through both manual and automatic processing as part of the LTER Provenance Aware Synthesis Tracking Architecture (PASTA). The web portal is a collaboration between the Jornada LTER and the LTER Network Office. The following dataset from Central Arizona - Phoenix Urban LTER (CAP) contains animal abundance of Hymenoptera (ants, bees and wasps) measurements in numberPerPitfallTrap units and were aggregated to a yearly timescale.
Thistle-down velvet ants in the Desert Mimicry Ring and the evolution of white coloration: Müllerian mimicry, camouflage, and thermal ecology
Adaptive coloration among animals is one of the most recognizable outcomes of natural selection. Here we investigate evolutionary drivers of white coloration in velvet ants (Hymenoptera: Mutillidae), which has previously been considered camouflage with the fruit of creosote bush. Our analyses indicate instead that velvet ants evolved white coloration millions of years before creosote bush was widespread in North America's hot deserts. Furthermore, velvet ants and the creosote fruit exhibit different spectral reflectance patterns, which appear distinct to potential insectivorous predators. While the white coloration in velvet ants likely did not evolve as camouflage, we find that white-colored species remain cooler than their red/orange relatives, and therefore we infer the white coloration likely evolved in response to Neogene desertification. This study shows the importance of cross-disciplinary investigation and the importance of testing multiple hypotheses when investigating evolutionary drivers of adaptive coloration.
Data from: Determining social and population structures requires multiple approaches: a case study of the desert ant Cataglyphis israelensis
The remarkable diversity of ant social organization is reflected in both their life history and population kin structure. Different species demonstrate a high variation with respect to both social structure and mating strategies: from the ancestral colony type that is composed of a single queen (monogyny), singly inseminated (monoandry), to the more derived states of colonies headed by a multiply inseminated queen (polyandry), to colonies composed of multiple queens (polygyny) that are either singly or multiply inseminated. Moreover, the population structure of an ant species can range from multicoloniality to polydomy to supercoloniality, and Cataglyphis is considered to be a model genus in regard to such diversity. The present study sought to determine the social and population structure of the recently described C. israelensis species in Israel. For this purpose we employed a multidisciplinary approach, rather than the commonly used single approach that is mostly based on genetics. Our study encompassed behavior (nest insularity/openness), chemistry (composition of nestmate recognition signals, cuticular hydrocarbons), and genetics (microsatellite polymorphism). Each approach has been shown to possess both advantages and disadvantages, depending on the studied species. Our findings reveal that C. israelensis colonies are headed by a single, multiply-inseminated queen and that the population structure is polydomous, with each colony comprising one main nest and several additional satellite nests. Moreover, our findings demonstrate that none of the above-noted approaches, when employed individually, is suitable or sufficient in itself for delineating population structure, thus emphasizing the importance of using multiple approaches when assessing such complex systems.
Data from: Long-term responses of desert ant assemblages to climate
1. Productivity is a key driver of ecosystem structure and function, so long-term studies are critical to understanding ecosystems with high temporal variation in productivity. In some deserts, productivity, driven by moisture availability, varies immensely over time (rainfall) and space (landscape factors). At high productivity, species richness is expected to be driven in opposing directions by abundance (More Individuals Hypothesis – MIH), and competition. While studies investigating the impacts of spatial variation in productivity on community structure are common, the impacts of temporal variability on productivity are poorly understood. 2. We tested how well rainfall predicted the activity, species numbers and assemblage composition of ants and if responses were moderated by landscape position. We also asked whether the number of species (richness per sampling unit and estimated species richness) responded directly to rainfall or was moderated by ant activity or competition from dominant ants. 3. Over a 22-year period, when annual rainfall fluctuated between 79 mm and 570 mm, we sampled ants using pitfall traps in paired dune and swale habitats in the Simpson Desert, Australia. We used climate records over this period to model changes in ant assemblages. 4. Activity of dominant ants responded primarily to long-term rainfall, increasing exponentially, while subordinate ants responded to short-term weather and time. Consistent with the MIH, the number of ant species was best predicted by activity, particularly that of subordinate ants. Activity of dominant ants had a declining positive effect on numbers of species. Landscape position strongly predicted species composition, while long-term rainfall determined composition at genus- but not species-level. Over time, species composition fluctuated, but several genera consistently increased in activity.
Data from: How to find home backwards? Navigation during rearward homing of Cataglyphis fortis desert ants
Cataglyphis ants are renowned for their impressive navigation skills, which have been studied in numerous experiments during forward locomotion. However, the ants' navigational performance during backward homing when dragging large food loads has not been investigated until now. During backward locomotion, the odometer has to deal with unsteady motion and irregularities in inter-leg coordination. The legs' sensory feedback during backward walking is not just a simple reversal of the forward stepping movements: compared with forward homing, ants are facing towards the opposite direction during backward dragging. Hence, the compass system has to cope with a flipped celestial view (in terms of the polarization pattern and the position of the sun) and an inverted retinotopic image of the visual panorama and landmark environment. The same is true for wind and olfactory cues. In this study we analyze for the first time backward-homing ants and evaluate their navigational performance in channel and open field experiments. Backward-homing Cataglyphis fortis desert ants show remarkable similarities in the performance of homing compared with forward-walking ants. Despite the numerous challenges emerging for the navigational system during backward walking, we show that ants perform quite well in our experiments. Direction and distance gauging was comparable to that of the forward-walking control groups. Interestingly, we found that backward-homing ants often put down the food item and performed foodless search loops around the left food item. These search loops were mainly centred around the drop-off position (and not around the nest position), and increased in length the closer the ants came to their fictive nest site.
Data from: Destruction of spider webs and rescue of ensnared nestmates by a granivorous desert ant (Veromessor pergandei)
Prey species rarely seek-out and dismantle traps constructed by their predators. In the current study, we report an instance of targeted trap destruction by an invertebrate, and a novel context for rescue behavior. We found that foragers of the granivorous desert ant, Veromessor pergandei, identify and cooperatively dismantle spider webs (Araneae: Theridiidae, Steatoda spp. and Asagena sp.) During group foraging, workers ensnared in webs are recovered by sisters, who transport them to the nest and groom away their silk bindings. The presence of an ensnared nestmate and chemical alarm signal significantly increased the probability of web removal and nestmate retrieval. A subset of larger-bodied foragers participated in web removal, and 6.3% became tangled or were captured by spiders. Most animals that perform rescue behavior live in small groups, but V. pergandei colonies include tens of thousands of short-lived workers. To maintain their size, large colonies must collect enough seeds to produce 650 new ants each day. We hypothesize that the removal of spider webs allows for an unimpeded income of seeds on a single foraging path, during a brief daily temperature window. Despite the cost to individuals, webs are only recognized and removed when workers are captured in them.
FIGURE 11 in A New Species of Seed-harvester Ant, Pogonomyrmex hoelldobleri (Hymenoptera: Formicidae), from the Mohave and Sonoran Deserts of North America
FIGURE 11. Geographic distribution of: (A) Pogonomyrmex magnacanthus Cole, (B) Pogonomyrmex hoelldobleri Johnson, Overson & Moreau, and (C) Pogonomyrmex mohavensis Johnson; the larger filled black circle in each panel denotes the type locality. All three maps are drawn on the same geographic area so that distribution patterns are directly comparable.
FIGURE 9 in A New Species of Seed-harvester Ant, Pogonomyrmex hoelldobleri (Hymenoptera: Formicidae), from the Mohave and Sonoran Deserts of North America
FIGURE 9. Photograph of Pogonomyrmex mohavensis Johnson alate queen: (A) frontal view of head, (B) lateral view of body, and (C) dorsal view of body.
FIGURE 10 in A New Species of Seed-harvester Ant, Pogonomyrmex hoelldobleri (Hymenoptera: Formicidae), from the Mohave and Sonoran Deserts of North America
FIGURE 10. Phylogram of species in the Pogonomyrmex californicus group as inferred through Bayesian analysis for the partitioned dataset. Specimens of P. hoelldobleri are in the dashed box. Branch lengths are proportional to substitution/site as indicated by the bottom legend inset. Clade support greater than 50% is denoted on branches and in the top insert as follows: values above and below branches represent Bayesian posterior probabilities (BPP) and maximum likelihood bootstrap (ML BS), respectively, for the partitioned dataset followed by the single dataset. Clade support of "--" denotes clades not supported in an individual analysis. Numbers following each species name refer to the accession number of the series from which the individual was taken; locale data are given for each series in Table 1. Pogonomyrmex californicus, P. hoelldobleri, and P. magnacanthus occurred sympatrically at one site (designated by an *).
FIGURE 8 in A New Species of Seed-harvester Ant, Pogonomyrmex hoelldobleri (Hymenoptera: Formicidae), from the Mohave and Sonoran Deserts of North America
FIGURE 8. Photograph of Pogonomyrmex hoelldobleri Johnson, Overson & Moreau male: (A) frontal view of head, (B) lateral view of body, and (C) dorsal view of body.
FIGURE 7 in A New Species of Seed-harvester Ant, Pogonomyrmex hoelldobleri (Hymenoptera: Formicidae), from the Mohave and Sonoran Deserts of North America
FIGURE 7. Photograph of Pogonomyrmex hoelldobleri Johnson, Overson & Moreau alate queen: (A) frontal view of head, (B) lateral view of body, and (C) dorsal view of body.
FIGURE 6 in A New Species of Seed-harvester Ant, Pogonomyrmex hoelldobleri (Hymenoptera: Formicidae), from the Mohave and Sonoran Deserts of North America
FIGURE 6. Photograph of Pogonomyrmex hoelldobleri Johnson, Overson & Moreau—HOLOTYPE worker: (A) frontal view of head, (B) lateral view of body, and (C) dorsal view of body.
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