Caste-specific recognition patterns in a fungus-growing termite
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Caste-specific recognition patterns in a fungus-growing termite. / Bos, Nick; van Zweden, Jelle S.
In: Animal Behaviour, Vol. 182, 2021, p. 125-133.Research output: Contribution to journal › Journal article › Research › peer-review
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TY - JOUR
T1 - Caste-specific recognition patterns in a fungus-growing termite
AU - Bos, Nick
AU - van Zweden, Jelle S.
N1 - Publisher Copyright: © 2021 The Association for the Study of Animal Behaviour
PY - 2021
Y1 - 2021
N2 - Discrimination between friends and foes is crucial for many superorganismal insects to ensure altruistic acts are only directed towards kin. However, whether or not an extremely sensitive recognition system is needed, could depend on the type of invaders that generally present a threat to the species in question. Ants are known to engage in intraspecific conflicts, and readily discriminate between nestmate and non-nestmate conspecifics. In contrast, fungus-growing termites do not invade or aggressively compete with neighbouring nests, but are instead often threatened by phylogenetically distant invaders, such as ants. Therefore, we hypothesized that termites have less need for a recognition system efficient in distinguishing small chemical differences. We studied intra- and interspecific recognition of the worker and soldier castes of the fungus-growing termite Macrotermes natalensis and investigated both recognition of and behaviour towards different stimuli of varying ecological importance. Both workers and soldiers were unable to efficiently discriminate against conspecific non-nestmates. Furthermore, we found that not only were soldiers more sensitive to small differences in chemical profiles than workers, but they also showed different behaviour than workers when a stimulus was recognized as foreign. Our results also raise the question whether termites have specifically evolved to recognize and react to the smell of ants. Our results reinforce the notion that nestmate recognition is a trait under stringent selection, where efficient recognition is only selected for when needed, probably because of the energetic costs of maintaining the neural tissue required.
AB - Discrimination between friends and foes is crucial for many superorganismal insects to ensure altruistic acts are only directed towards kin. However, whether or not an extremely sensitive recognition system is needed, could depend on the type of invaders that generally present a threat to the species in question. Ants are known to engage in intraspecific conflicts, and readily discriminate between nestmate and non-nestmate conspecifics. In contrast, fungus-growing termites do not invade or aggressively compete with neighbouring nests, but are instead often threatened by phylogenetically distant invaders, such as ants. Therefore, we hypothesized that termites have less need for a recognition system efficient in distinguishing small chemical differences. We studied intra- and interspecific recognition of the worker and soldier castes of the fungus-growing termite Macrotermes natalensis and investigated both recognition of and behaviour towards different stimuli of varying ecological importance. Both workers and soldiers were unable to efficiently discriminate against conspecific non-nestmates. Furthermore, we found that not only were soldiers more sensitive to small differences in chemical profiles than workers, but they also showed different behaviour than workers when a stimulus was recognized as foreign. Our results also raise the question whether termites have specifically evolved to recognize and react to the smell of ants. Our results reinforce the notion that nestmate recognition is a trait under stringent selection, where efficient recognition is only selected for when needed, probably because of the energetic costs of maintaining the neural tissue required.
KW - aggression
KW - caste differentiation
KW - communication
KW - gestalt
KW - mandible-opening response
KW - recognition
KW - termite
U2 - 10.1016/j.anbehav.2021.10.006
DO - 10.1016/j.anbehav.2021.10.006
M3 - Journal article
AN - SCOPUS:85118530901
VL - 182
SP - 125
EP - 133
JO - Animal Behaviour
JF - Animal Behaviour
SN - 0003-3472
ER -
ID: 286488854