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36 results for “colony size”
Datasets and R code for: Brood as booty: The effect of colony size and resource value in social insect contests
<p><strong>From the Manuscript: </strong>Animals engage in contests for access to resources like food, mates, and space. Intergroup contests between groups of organisms have received little attention, and it remains unresolved what information groups might use collectively to make contest decisions. We staged whole-colony contests using ant colonies (<em>Temnothorax rugatulus</em>), which perceive conspecific colonies as both a threat and resource from which to steal brood. We recorded individual behaviors and used demographic characteristics as proxies for resource value (number of brood items) and fighting ability (number of workers). We found that ants altered their fighting effort depending on the relative number of workers of their opponent. While the proximate mechanism for this ability remains uncertain, we found that colonies increased fighting when their opponent had relatively more brood, but not if opposing colonies had relatively many more workers. This suggests that ant colonies can use information about opposing colonies that shapes contest strategies. Further, the behavior of opposing colonies were strongly correlated with each other despite colony size differences ranging from 4-51%, consistent with the hypothesis that colonies can use opponent information. The behavior of a distributed, collective system of many individuals, like a eusocial insect colony, thus fits several predictions of contest models designed for individuals if we consider the gain and loss of worker ants analogous to energetic costs accrued during typical dyadic contests.</p>
Fig. 1. Precious coral colonies used for transplantation. A in Fig. 4 in Transplantation Tests of Precious Coral Fragments Using Small-sized Artificial Substratum.
Fig. 1. Precious coral colonies used for transplantation. A: Before cutting. The broken yellow line shows the separation line. B: After cutting. C: Precious coral fragments were transplanted on the concrete part of substrate (Kaiso-kun). D: Pre-release substrate. Blue arrows show fragments detached along with epoxy mount. E: Recovered substrate. C–E is based on Koido and Toshino (2022).
Figure 5 in Effect of urban habitats on colony size of ants (Hymenoptera, Formicidae) In memory of Professor A. A. Zakharov (Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow)
Figure 5. Colony size of species per different geographic area. A – Crematogaster subdentata; B – Lasius neglectus.
Figure 4 in Effect of urban habitats on colony size of ants (Hymenoptera, Formicidae) In memory of Professor A. A. Zakharov (Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow)
Figure 4. Colony size of 9 species of ants in several habitats of the same geographic area (calculated according to (A. Zakharov, 1978, 2015). A – Lasius fuliginosus; B – Camponotus vagus; C – Lasius emarginatus; D – Lasius niger; E – Formica cinerea; F - Dolichoderus quadripunctatus; G – Lasius brunneus; H – Crematogaster subdentata; I – Lasius neglectus.
Figure 2 in Effect of urban habitats on colony size of ants (Hymenoptera, Formicidae) In memory of Professor A. A. Zakharov (Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow)
Figure 2. Calculated curve of the size of the ant colony by the intensity of movement of foragers per 1 min along the trail (counting only in one direction, Zakharov, 1979; 2015). Within 14–140 - according to A. Zakharov (1979), from 184 to 307 - our data, with an additional calculation formula in this range of values.
Figure 3 in Effect of urban habitats on colony size of ants (Hymenoptera, Formicidae) In memory of Professor A. A. Zakharov (Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow)
Figure 3. Colony size in 21 ant species, calculated by the formula of A. Zakharov (1979; 2015). Ukraine: A – Kyiv region, deciduous (Kd) and coniferous (Kp) forests, natural habitats; B – Kyiv, suburban habitats (Ks); C – Kyiv city, urban habitats; D – natural habitats in Crimea (C1 – mountain steppes, C2 – mountain meadows) and in the Carpathians (Carp, mountain meadows); Crimea, steppe areas, natural habitats (C_aet); suburban and urban habitats in Crimea (L_neg, C_sub); Crimea, oak-pistachio-juniper forests, natural habitats (P_tau; F_gag; C_sch); Russian Federation: E, F – Rostov-on-Don, suburban (L_neg_R2) and urban (L_neg_R1; C_sub_R1) habitats; Uzbekistan: G – natural (riparian forests, C_sub_tu) and urban (Tashkent city, everything else) habitats; Russian Federation: H – Ural, natural habitats (taiga). Ant species: L_pla – Lasius platythorax; Dol – Dolichoderus quadripunctatus; L_ful – Lasius fuliginosus; L_ema – Lasius emarginatus; L_bru – Lasius brunneus; F_ruf – Formica rufa; L_nig – Lasius niger; F_cin – Formica cinerea; C_vag – Camponotus vagus; C_aet – Camponotus aethiops; F_tru – Formica truncorum; F_pol – Formica polyctena; L_neg – Lasius neglectus; F_pra – Formica pratensis; P_tau – Plagiolepis tauricus; F_gag – Formica gagates; C_sch – Crematogaster schmidti; C_sub – Crematogaster subdentata; M_ber – Myrmica bergi; P_pal – Plagiolepis pallescens; F_aqu – Formica aquilonia.
Figure 1. D in Effect of urban habitats on colony size of ants (Hymenoptera, Formicidae) In memory of Professor A. A. Zakharov (Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow)
Figure 1. D Locations of the study. Ukraine: 1 – Crimea (the Main ridge of the Mountainous Crimea and the South Coast, Saki region), 2 – Kyiv and Kyiv region, 3 – Carpathians; Uzbekistan: 4 – Tashkent city, tugai forests; Russian Federation: 5 – Ural, 6 – Rostov-on-Don city and region. Habitats. a – natural, b – suburban, c – urban.
Variation in North American bumble bee nest success and colony sizes under captive rearing conditions
<p>Of the 265 known bumble bee (<em>Bombus</em>) species, knowledge of colony lifecycle is derived from relatively few species. As interest in <em>Bombus</em> commercialization and conservation grows, it is becoming increasingly important to understand colony growth dynamics across a variety of species since variation exists in nest success, colony growth, and reproductive output. In this study, we documented successful nest initiation and establishment rates of colonies produced from wild-caught gynes, and created a timeline of colony development for fifteen western North American <em>Bombus </em>species captively reared from 2009 to 2019. Additionally, we assessed variation in colony size among five western North American <em>Bombus </em>species from 2015 to 2018. Nest initiation and establishment rates varied greatly among species, ranging from 5–76.1% and 0–71.8%, respectively. <em>Bombus griseocollis </em>had the highest rates of nest success across the eleven-year period, followed by <em>B. occidentalis, B. vosnesenskii, </em>and <em>B. huntii. </em>Further, we identified that colonies reared from two gynes had significantly higher nest initiation and establishment rates per nest box compared to those reared from a single gyne. Colony size also differed significantly among species with <em>B. huntii </em>and <em>B. vosnesenskii </em>producing more worker/drone cells than <em>B. griseocollis, B. occidentalis, </em>and <em>B. vancouverensis. </em>Additionally, gyne production differed significantly among species with <em>B. huntii </em>colonies producing more gynes than <em>B. vosnesenskii. </em>Results from this study increase knowledge of systematic nesting biology for numerous western North American <em>Bombus </em>species under captive rearing conditions, which can further improve rearing techniques available to conservationists and researchers.</p>
Datasets and R code for: Brood as booty: The effect of colony size and resource value in social insect contests
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Mean body size predicts colony performance in the common eastern bumble bee (Bombus impatiens)
Prior studies suggest that both the mean and variation of worker size predict the performance of bumble bee colonies. The 'variation hypothesis' posits that colony performance increases with variation of worker body size due to more efficient division of labour within colonies. The 'mean size hypothesis' posits that colony performance increases with mean bumble bee size, as each individual’s efficiency tends to increase with body size. The present study tested these non-mutually exclusive hypotheses by establishing 62 Bombus impatiens Cresson (Hymenoptera, Apidae) nest boxes in 32 semi-natural savanna fragments within large-scale experimental landscapes in South Carolina (U.S.A.). Based on measurements of > 24 000 individuals and on colony growth over ca. 7 weeks, our results support the mean size hypothesis, not the variation hypothesis.
Data from: Colony size affects breeding density, but not spatial distribution type, in a seabird
<p>The spatial distribution of individuals within populations can result in fine-scale density-dependence and affect the social environment that is encountered. As such, it is important to quantify within-population spatial structuring and understand the factors that shape it. In this study, we make use of point process statistics to test whether colony size affects the statistical type of spatial nest distribution produced by common terns (<i>Sterna hirundo</i>) breeding at identical man-made rectangular and homogeneous islands of fixed physical size. Comparing sub-colonies of variable density both within and across years, we find that inter-nest distances are smaller at higher local and overall breeding density, but that the spatial distribution type does not vary across the observed densities. This suggests that the birds' main settlement rules do not depend on density. In our case, analyses of fine-scale density-dependence or potential social effects therefore do not need to account for between-individual heterogeneity in settlement decision rules or acceptance of these rules. We urge, however, other studies to similarly test for density-dependence of the spatial distribution of individuals before undertaking such 'down-stream' analyses.</p>
Behavioral flexibility in solitary foraging ants: how experience, colony size and food distribution shape individual and collective performance
<p>To deal with the unpredictability of available food resources, animals must adjust their behavior to optimize foraging efficiency. Various mechanisms can influence an individual’s food acquisition behaviour, and thus our knowledge of their combined impact on foraging efficiency remains limited. In this study, we conducted laboratory experiments with seven colonies of the solitary foraging ant Dinoponera quadriceps. Foragers were individually observed in semi-controlled experiments where food was offered in aggregated or dispersed distributions. During the experiments, individual participation was voluntary (i.e. ants were free to enter or not the experimental arena), giving us an opportunity to assess internal processes such as motivation. Besides, behavioral traits such as foraging activity, exploration of food patches, and performance were recorded across repeated trials. We found that solitary foragers of D. quadriceps were highly efficient (retrieving food in 77.38% of the trips), especially when exploiting aggregated and abundant food resources. However, individual foraging success declined when more conspecific foragers were present and with longer foraging experience. Foragers increased their exploration levels in environments with larger numbers of dispersed prey items. Individual foraging activity was higher with more experience and in smaller colonies with fewer foragers. Furthermore, foragers and colonies exhibited low but consistent differences in levels of activity, exploration, and success rates. These findings provide a comprehensive view of how different factors combine to give rise to complex behaviors such as foraging. Additionally, they emphasize the importance of individual traits for effective task performance within social groups, an understudied topic.</p>
A real-time feedback system stabilises the regulation of worker reproduction under various colony sizes
<p>Based on individual trait expression, an agent-based simulation was used to identify an explicit mechanism for understanding colony size dependent behaviour. This is the code for and data from the agent-based simulation</p>
Colonial coral resilience by decreasing size: reaction to increased detrital influx during onset of the late Palaeozoic Ice Age
<p><span>Modern coral reefs and associated biodiversity are severely threatened by increasing terrestrial runoff. Similar scenarios could be suspected for geological times, but reef coral resilience is still an enigma. In late Visean</span><span>-</span><span>Serpukhovian (Mississippian foraminiferal zones/MFZ 14-16) times, a major glaciation phase of the late Palaeozoic Ice Age (LPIA) associated with enhanced terrestrial weathering and runoff coincides with a biodiversity crisis and coral reef decline. In this study, the impact of enhanced terrestrial runoff is tested on size variations of colonial corals <em>Aulina rotiformis</em> and <em>Lithostrotion decipiens</em> along a gradient of contemporaneous (Serpukhovian) open marine carbonate to nearshore siliciclastic facies in South China. Along this gradient, their sizes decrease from carbonate, through intermediate carbonate-siliciclastic, to siliciclastic facies. This is consistent with increasing abundance of terrestrial materials of high silicon, aluminium, and phosphorus values. On a larger million</span><span>-</span><span>year</span><span>-</span><span>long interval (MFZ14-16) and for several palaeocontinents, size data of <em>Lithostrotion decipiens</em> and <em>Siphonodendron pauciradiale</em> show a distinct decline in late Visean, when enhanced terrestrial weathering occurred commonly with palaeosols developed during regression. This suggests that terrestrial sediment and nutrient input may have mainly controlled phenotypic plasticity in Mississippian reef corals, with a decrease in size as a component of resilience across the LPIA onset.</span></p>
Variation in population size, nest distribution, colony extent, and timing of movements at the largest known parrot colony
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Wild bumble bee colony abundance, scaled by field size, predicts pollination services
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Colonial coral resilience by decreasing size: reaction to increased detrital influx during onset of the late Palaeozoic Ice Age
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Data from: Colony size affects breeding density, but not spatial distribution type, in a seabird
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Data from: Modularity and connectivity of nest structure scale with colony size
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Data from: Strict monandry in the ponerine army ant genus Simopelta suggests that colony size and complexity drive mating system evolution in social insects
Altruism in social insects has evolved between closely related full-siblings. It is therefore of considerable interest why some groups have secondarily evolved low within-colony relatedness, which in turn affects the relatedness incentives of within-colony cooperation and conflict. The highest queen mating frequencies, and therefore among the lowest degrees of colony relatedness, occur in Apis honeybees and army ants of the subfamilies Aenictinae, Ecitoninae, and Dorylinae, suggesting that common life-history features such as reproduction by colony fission and male biased numerical sex-ratios have convergently shaped these mating systems. Here we show that ponerine army ants of the genus Simopelta, which are distantly related but similar in general biology to other army ants, have strictly monandrous queens. Preliminary data suggest that workers reproduce in queenright colonies, which is in sharp contrast to other army ants. We hypothesize that differences in mature colony size and social complexity may explain these striking discrepancies.
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Allen Brain Atlas
Allen Brain Atlas is an Allen Institute collection of brain map atlases, datasets, APIs, and analysis tools covering mouse, human, and non-human primate brain resources.
Annotated Behaviour and Observability Dataset (ABODe)
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DANDI Archive for NWB datasets
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International Brain Laboratory public data
The International Brain Laboratory public data releases expose standardized mouse decision-making experiments, including Neuropixels recordings, widefield calcium imaging, behavior, and session metadata accessed through the ONE API.
OpenNeuro
OpenNeuro is a free, open platform for sharing neuroimaging datasets, with public search, dataset pages, and download paths for web, S3, DataLad, and the OpenNeuro CLI.