Artículo

Estamos trabajando para incorporar este artículo al repositorio
Consulte el artículo en la página del editor
Consulte la política de Acceso Abierto del editor

Abstract:

The simultaneous study of the temporal dynamics of foraging behaviour, diet and seed abundance is essential to assess the way in which resources affect the behaviour and ecology of harvester ants. Here, we evaluate how fluctuations in grass seed abundance during three consecutive growing seasons influenced the foraging behaviour and diet of the harvester ants Pogonomyrmex rastratus, P. mendozanus and P. inermis in the central Monte desert, Argentina. Seed abundance of the most consumed grasses varied greatly through ant activity season, and ants altered their foraging behaviour in response to those changes. Foragers spent more time travelling and searching for food, and their foraging trips took longer during the low seed availability season. Foraging distance was very similar among species and, contrary to our expectations, did not vary between seasons. Foraging success of P. rastratus and P. inermis increased during the high availability season. This matched the seasonal pattern of foraging activity, suggesting that colonies may detect seed abundance and regulate their foraging effort with the rate of forager success. Although grass seeds were the main item in the diet of the three species, P. mendozanus, and to a lesser extent P. rastratus, turned more generalist when grass seeds were scarce. In contrast, P. inermis showed a very narrow diet breadth, only harvesting grass seeds in both seasons. Our results indicate the relevance of seed availability on foraging behaviour of harvester ants, which should be taken into account when predicting and evaluating the effect of ants on seed resources as well as numerical responses of harvester ant populations to the temporal and spatial variations in grass seed abundance. © 2010 The Authors. Journal compilation © 2010 Ecological Society of Australia.

Registro:

Documento: Artículo
Título:Influence of temporal fluctuations in seed abundance on the foraging behaviour of harvester ants (Pogonomyrmex spp.) in the central Monte desert, Argentina
Autor:Pol, R.G.; Lopez De Casenave, J.; Pirk, G.I.
Filiación:Desert Community Ecology Research Team (Ecodes), IADIZA, CONICET, Argentina
Instituto de Ciencias Básicas (ICB), Universidad Nacional de Cuyo, Mendoza, Argentina
Desert Community Ecology Research Team (Ecodes), Departamento de Ecología, Genética y Evolución, FCEyN, Universidad de Buenos Aires, Buenos Aires, Argentina
Laboratorio Ecotono, INIBIOMA, CONICET-Universidad Nacional del Comahue, Bariloche, Argentina
Palabras clave:Foraging behaviour; Harvester ant; Monte desert; Pogonomyrmex; Seed availability; abundance; ant; behavioral response; colony; diet; foraging behavior; generalist; grass; growing season; numerical response; plant-insect interaction; seasonality; seed; spatiotemporal analysis; temporal variation; Argentina; Mendoza; Monte Desert; Formicidae; Poaceae; Pogonomyrmex; Pogonomyrmex inermis; Pogonomyrmex rastratus
Año:2011
Volumen:36
Número:3
Página de inicio:320
Página de fin:328
DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1442-9993.2010.02153.x
Título revista:Austral Ecology
Título revista abreviado:Austral Ecol.
ISSN:14429985
CODEN:AUECF
Registro:https://bibliotecadigital.exactas.uba.ar/collection/paper/document/paper_14429985_v36_n3_p320_Pol

Referencias:

  • Bernstein, R.A., Seasonal food abundance and foraging activity in some desert ants (1974) Am. Nat., 108, pp. 490-498
  • Beverly, B.D., McLendon, H., Nacu, S., Holmes, S., Gordon, D.M., How site fidelity leads to individual differences in the foraging activity of harvester ants (2009) Behav. Ecol., 20, pp. 633-638
  • Brown, M.J.F., Gordon, D.M., How resources and encounters affect the distribution of foraging activity in a seed-harvesting ant (2000) Behav. Ecol. Sociobiol., 47, pp. 195-203
  • Carroll, C.R., Janzen, D.H., Ecology of foraging by ants (1973) Annu. Rev. Ecol. Syst., 4, pp. 231-257
  • Claver, S., Fowler, H.G., The ant fauna (Hymenoptera, Formicidae) of the Ñacuñán Biosphere Reserve (1993) Naturalia, 18, pp. 189-193
  • Cresswell, J.E., Osborne, J.L., Goulson, D., An economic model of the limits to foraging range in central place foragers with numerical solutions for bumblebees (2000) Ecol. Entomol., 25, pp. 249-255
  • Crist, T.O., Haefner, J.W., Spatial model of movement and foraging in harvester ants (Pogonomyrmex) (II): the roles of environment and seed dispersion (1994) J. Theor. Biol., 166, pp. 315-323
  • Crist, T.O., MacMahon, J.A., Foraging patterns of Pogonomyrmex occidentalis (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) in a shrub-steppe ecosystem: the roles of temperature, trunk trails, and seed resources (1991) Environ. Entomol., 20, pp. 265-275
  • Crist, T.O., Mac Mahon, J.A., Harvester ant foraging and shrub-steppe seeds: interactions of seed resources and seed use (1992) Ecology, 73, pp. 1768-1779
  • Cuezzo, F., Claver, S., Two new species of the ant genus Pogonomyrmex (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) from Argentina (2009) Rev. Soc. Entomol. Argent., 68, pp. 97-106
  • Davidson, E.A., Seed utilization by harvester ants (1982) Ant-Plant Interactions in Australia, pp. 1-6. , (ed. R. C. Buckley) The Hague, Junk
  • Devigne, C., Detrain, C., How does food distance influence foraging in the ant Lasius niger: the importance of home-range marking (2006) Insect. Soc., 53, pp. 46-55
  • Díaz, M., Spatial and temporal pattern of granivorous ant seed predation in patchy cereal crop areas of central Spain (1992) Oecologia, 91, pp. 561-568
  • Dreisig, H., Ideal free distributions of nectar foraging bumblebees (1995) Oikos, 72, pp. 161-172
  • Dukas, R., Edelstein-Keshet, L., The spatial distribution of colonial food provisioners (1998) J. Theor. Biol., 190, pp. 121-134
  • Fewell, J.H., Energetic and time costs of foraging in harvester ants, Pogonomyrmex occidentalis (1988) Behav. Ecol. Sociobiol., 22, pp. 401-408
  • Fewell, J.H., Harrison, J.F., Stiller, T.M., Breed, M.D., Distance effects on resource profitability and recruitment in the giant tropical ant, Paraponera clavata (1992) Oecologia, 92, pp. 542-547
  • Gordon, D., The regulation of foraging activity in red harvester ant colonies (2002) Am. Nat., 159, pp. 509-518
  • Goss, S., Deneubourg, J.L., The self-organising clock pattern of Messor pergandei (1989) Insect. Soc., 36, pp. 339-346
  • Hansson, L., Fahrig, L., Merriam, G., (1995) Mosaic Landscapes and Ecological Processes, , Chapman & Hall, London
  • Heinrich, B., Energetic of pollination (1975) Annu. Rev. Ecol. Syst., 6, pp. 139-170
  • Hill, P.S.M., Hollis, J., Wells, H., Foraging decisions in nectarivores: unexpected interactions between flower constancy and energetic rewards (2001) Anim. Behav., 62, pp. 729-737
  • Hobbs, R.J., Harvester ant foraging and plant species distribution in annual grassland (1985) Oecologia, 67, pp. 519-523
  • Holder Bailey, K., Polis, G.A., Optimal and central-place foraging theory applied to the desert harvester ant, Pogonomyrmex californicus (1987) Oecologia, 72, pp. 440-448
  • Hölldobler, B., Recruitment behavior, home range orientation and territoriality in harvester ants, Pogonomyrmex (1976) Behav. Ecol. Sociobiol., 1, pp. 3-44
  • Hölldobler, B., Wilson, E.O., (1990) The Ants, , Harvard University Press, Cambridge
  • Holway, D.A., Effect of Argentine ant invasions on ground-dwelling arthropods in northern California riparian woodlands (1998) Oecologia, 116, pp. 252-258
  • Kay, A., Rissing, S.W., Division of foraging labor in ants can mediate demands for food and safety (2005) Behav. Ecol. Sociobiol., 58, pp. 165-174
  • Krebs, J.R., Davies, N.B., (1993) An Introduction to Behavioural Ecology, , Blackwell Scientific Publications, Oxford
  • Lighton, J.R.B., Fukushi, T., Wehner, R., Ventilation in Cataglyphis bicolor: regulation of CO2 release from the thoracic and abdominal spiracles (1993) J. Insect Physiol., 39, pp. 687-699
  • López, F., Acosta, F.J., Serrano, J.M., Responses of the trunk routes of a harvester ant to plant density (1993) Oecologia, 93, pp. 109-113
  • López, F., Serrano, J.M., Acosta, F.J., Parallels between the foraging strategies of ants and plants (1994) Trends Ecol. Evol., 9, pp. 150-153
  • MacArthur, R.H., Pianka, E.R., On optimal use of patchy environment (1966) Am. Nat., 100, pp. 903-909
  • Marone, L., Horno, M.E., Seed reserves in the central Monte desert, Argentina: implications for granivory (1997) J. Arid Environ., 36, pp. 661-670
  • Marone, L., Rossi, B.E., Horno, M.E., Timing and spatial patterning of seed dispersal and redistribution in a South America warm desert (1998) Plant Ecol., 137, pp. 143-150
  • Marone, L., Rossi, B.E., Lopez de Casenave, J., Granivore impact on soil-seed reserves in the Monte desert, Argentina (1998) Funct. Ecol., 12, pp. 640-645
  • Marone, L., Horno, M.E., González del Solar, R., Post-dispersal fate of seeds in the Monte desert of Argentina: patterns of germination in successive wet and dry years (2000) J. Ecol., 88, pp. 1-11
  • Marone, L., Lopez de Casenave, J., Cueto, V.R., Granivory in southern South American deserts: conceptual issues and current evidence (2000) Bioscience, 50, pp. 123-132
  • Marone, L., Cueto, V.R., Milesi, F.A., Lopez de Casenave, J., Soil seed bank composition over desert microhabitats: patterns and plausible mechanisms (2004) Can. J. Bot., 82, pp. 1809-1816
  • Marone, L., Lopez de Casenave, J., Milesi, F.A., Cueto, V.R., Can seed-eating birds exert top-down effects on the vegetation of the Monte desert? (2008) Oikos, 117, pp. 611-619
  • Mehlhop, P., Scott, N.J., Temporal patterns of seed use and availability in a guild of desert ants (1983) Ecol. Entomol., 8, pp. 69-85
  • Meserve, P.L., Kelt, D.A., Milstead, W.B., Gutiérrez, J.R., Thirteen years of shifting top-down and bottom-up control (2003) Bioscience, 53, pp. 633-646
  • Mull, J.F., MacMahon, J.A., Factors determining the spatial variability of seed densities in a shrubsteppe ecosystem: the role of harvester ants (1996) J. Arid Environ., 32, pp. 181-192
  • Pirk, G.I., (2007), Granivoría por hormigas del género Pogonomyrmex en el Monte central: consumo de semillas e impacto sobre el banco de suelo (PhD Thesis). Universidad de Buenos Aires, Buenos Aires; Pirk, G.I., Lopez de Casenave, J., Diet and seed removal rates by the harvester ants Pogonomyrmex rastratus and Pogonomyrmex pronotalis in the central Monte desert, Argentina (2006) Insect. Soc., 53, pp. 119-125
  • Pirk, G.I., Lopez de Casenave, J., Pol, R.G., Asociación de las hormigas granívoras Pogonomyrmex pronotalis, P. rastratus y P. inermis con caminos en el Monte central (2004) Ecol. Austral., 14, pp. 65-76
  • Pirk, G.I., Lopez de Casenave, J., Marone, L., Evaluation of three techniques for the study of harvester ant (Pogonomyrmex spp.) diet (2007) Environ. Entomol., 36, pp. 1092-1099
  • Pirk, G.I., Lopez de Casenave, J., Pol, R.G., Milesi, F.A., Marone, L., Influence of temporal fluctuations in seed abundance on the diet of harvester ants (Pogonomyrmex spp.) in the central Monte desert, Argentina (2009) Austral Ecol., 34, pp. 908-919
  • Pol, R.G., (2008) Granivoría por hormigas del género Pogonomyrmex en el Monte central: respuestas funcionales a las variaciones en la disponibilidad de semillas (PhD Thesis), , Universidad Nacional de Cuyo, Mendoza
  • Pol, R.G., Lopez de Casenave, J., Activity patterns of harvester ants Pogonomyrmex pronotalis and Pogonomyrmex rastratus in the Central Monte Desert, Argentina (2004) J. Insect Behav., 17, pp. 647-661
  • Pol, R.G., Lopez de Casenave, J., Feldhaar, H., Milesi, F.A., Gadau, J., Polyandry in two South American harvester ants (2008) Insect. Soc., 55, pp. 91-95
  • Pol, R.G., Pirk, G.I., Marone, L., Grass seed production in the central Monte desert during successive wet and dry years (2010) Plant Ecol., 208, pp. 65-75
  • Price, M.V., Joyner, J.W., What resources are available to desert granivores: seed rain or soil seed bank? (1997) Ecology, 78, pp. 764-773
  • Pulliam, H.R., Foraging efficiency, resource partitioning, and the coexistence of sparrow species (1985) Ecology, 66, pp. 1829-1836
  • Pyke, G.H., Optimal foraging in bumblebees: calculation of net rate of energy intake and optimal patch choice (1980) Theor. Popul. Biol., 17, pp. 232-246
  • Reyes-López, J.L., Fernández-Haeger, J., Composition-dependent and density dependent seed removal rates in the harvester ant Messor barbarus (2002) Sociobiology, 39, pp. 1-10
  • Rissing, S.W., Indirect effects of granivory by harvester ants: plant species, composition and reproductive increase near ant nests (1986) Oecologia, 68, pp. 231-234
  • Rissing, S.W., Wheeler, J., Foraging responses of Veromessor pergandei to changes in seed production (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) (1976) Pan-Pac. Entomol, 52, pp. 63-72
  • Roces, F., Leaf-cutting ants cut fragment sizes in relation to distance from the nest (1990) Anim. Behav., 40, pp. 1181-1183
  • Röschard, J., Roces, F., The effect of load length, width and mass on transport rate in the grass-cutting ant Atta vollenweideri (2002) Oecologia, 131, pp. 319-324
  • Schafer, R.J., Holmes, S., Gordon, D.M., Forager activation and food availability in harvester ants (2006) Anim. Behav., 71, pp. 815-822
  • Schmid-Hempel, P., Efficient nectar collection by honey bees: I. Economic models (1987) J. Anim. Ecol., 56, pp. 209-218
  • Schmid-Hempel, P., Kacelnik, A., Houston, A.I., Honeybees maximize efficiency by not filling their crop (1985) Behav. Ecol. Sociobiol., 17, pp. 61-66
  • Schoener, T.W., Theory of feeding strategies (1971) Ann. Rev. Ecol. Syst., 2, pp. 369-404
  • Sokal, R.R., Rohlf, F.J., (1995) Biometry, , 3rd edn. Freeman, New York
  • Stephens, D.W., Krebs, J.R., (1986) Foraging Theory, , Princeton University Press, Princeton
  • Taylor, F., Foraging behavior of ants: experiments with two species of Myrmecine ants (1977) Behav. Ecol. Sociobiol., 2, pp. 147-167
  • Traniello, J.F.A., Foraging strategies of ants (1989) Ann. Rev. Entomol., 34, pp. 191-210
  • Traniello, J.F.A., Fujita, M.S., Bowen, R.V., Ant foraging behavior: ambient temperature influences prey selection (1984) Behav. Ecol. Sociobiol., 15, pp. 65-68
  • Weier, J., Feener, D., Foraging in the seed-harvester ant genus Pogonomyrmex: are energy costs important? (1995) Behav. Ecol. Sociobiol., 36, pp. 291-300
  • Wetterer, J.K., Source distance has no effect on load size in the leaf-cutting ant, Atta cephalotes (1991) Psyche, 98, pp. 355-359
  • Whitford, W.G., Foraging in seed harvester ants Pogonomyrmex spp (1978) Ecology, 59, pp. 185-189
  • Whitford, W.G., (2002) Ecology of Desert Systems, , Academic Press, London
  • Wilby, A., Shachak, M., Harvester ant response to spatial and temporal heterogeneity in seed availability: pattern in the process of granivory (2000) Oecologia, 125, pp. 495-503

Citas:

---------- APA ----------
Pol, R.G., Lopez De Casenave, J. & Pirk, G.I. (2011) . Influence of temporal fluctuations in seed abundance on the foraging behaviour of harvester ants (Pogonomyrmex spp.) in the central Monte desert, Argentina. Austral Ecology, 36(3), 320-328.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1442-9993.2010.02153.x
---------- CHICAGO ----------
Pol, R.G., Lopez De Casenave, J., Pirk, G.I. "Influence of temporal fluctuations in seed abundance on the foraging behaviour of harvester ants (Pogonomyrmex spp.) in the central Monte desert, Argentina" . Austral Ecology 36, no. 3 (2011) : 320-328.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1442-9993.2010.02153.x
---------- MLA ----------
Pol, R.G., Lopez De Casenave, J., Pirk, G.I. "Influence of temporal fluctuations in seed abundance on the foraging behaviour of harvester ants (Pogonomyrmex spp.) in the central Monte desert, Argentina" . Austral Ecology, vol. 36, no. 3, 2011, pp. 320-328.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1442-9993.2010.02153.x
---------- VANCOUVER ----------
Pol, R.G., Lopez De Casenave, J., Pirk, G.I. Influence of temporal fluctuations in seed abundance on the foraging behaviour of harvester ants (Pogonomyrmex spp.) in the central Monte desert, Argentina. Austral Ecol. 2011;36(3):320-328.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1442-9993.2010.02153.x