Working in the rain? Why leaf-cutting ants stop foraging when it’s raining

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Understanding how environmental factors modulate foraging is key to recognizing the adaptive value of animal behavior, especially in ectothermic organisms such as ants. We experimentally analyzed the effect of rain on the foraging of leaf-cutting ants, a key ant group that is commonly found in rainy...

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Autores principales:	Farji-Brener, A.G., Dalton, M.C., Balza, U., Courtis, A., Lemus-Domínguez, I., Fernández-Hilario, R., Cáceres-Levi, D.
Formato:	JOUR
Materias:	Ant behavior Atta cephalotes Costa Rica Environmental restrictions Foraging ant behavioral response environmental effect environmental factor experimental study foraging behavior noise rainfall relative humidity Animalia Atta Formicidae
Acceso en línea:	http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12110/paper_00201812_v65_n2_p233_FarjiBrener
Aporte de:	Biblioteca Digital - Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales (UBA) de Universidad de Buenos Aires

id	todo:paper_00201812_v65_n2_p233_FarjiBrener
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spelling	todo:paper_00201812_v65_n2_p233_FarjiBrener2023-10-03T14:17:31Z Working in the rain? Why leaf-cutting ants stop foraging when it’s raining Farji-Brener, A.G. Dalton, M.C. Balza, U. Courtis, A. Lemus-Domínguez, I. Fernández-Hilario, R. Cáceres-Levi, D. Ant behavior Atta cephalotes Costa Rica Environmental restrictions Foraging ant behavioral response environmental effect environmental factor experimental study foraging behavior noise rainfall relative humidity Costa Rica Animalia Atta Atta cephalotes Formicidae Understanding how environmental factors modulate foraging is key to recognizing the adaptive value of animal behavior, especially in ectothermic organisms such as ants. We experimentally analyzed the effect of rain on the foraging of leaf-cutting ants, a key ant group that is commonly found in rainy habitats. Specifically, we experimentally discriminate among direct and indirect effects of rain on laden ants and explore whether ants respond to rain predictors by incrementing their speed. Watered loads were frequently dropped although ants were not wet, and watered ants also dropped their loads although loads were not wet. Watered leaf fragments increased their weight by 143% and were dropped independently with regards to area or symmetry. Watering the trail did not affect the proportion of ants that dropped their loads. Ants increased their speed by 30% after experimental increments in relative humidity and the noise of raindrops on leaves near the trail. Our experimental results confirm earlier anecdotic evidence of the negative effect of rainfall on the foraging of leaf-cutting ants. We demonstrate that rain can strongly limit ant foraging through different mechanisms, affecting both the ant itself, and the maneuverability of laden ants, by increasing the weight of their loads. We also depict behavioral responses that may mitigate this negative effect on foraging: walking faster at signals of rainfall to reduce the portion of leaf fragments lost. Our results illustrate how environmental factors can directly and indirectly constrain ant foraging and highlight the relevance of behavioral responses to mitigate these effects. © 2018, International Union for the Study of Social Insects (IUSSI). JOUR info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.5/ar http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12110/paper_00201812_v65_n2_p233_FarjiBrener
institution	Universidad de Buenos Aires
institution_str	I-28
repository_str	R-134
collection	Biblioteca Digital - Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales (UBA)
topic	Ant behavior Atta cephalotes Costa Rica Environmental restrictions Foraging ant behavioral response environmental effect environmental factor experimental study foraging behavior noise rainfall relative humidity Costa Rica Animalia Atta Atta cephalotes Formicidae
spellingShingle	Ant behavior Atta cephalotes Costa Rica Environmental restrictions Foraging ant behavioral response environmental effect environmental factor experimental study foraging behavior noise rainfall relative humidity Costa Rica Animalia Atta Atta cephalotes Formicidae Farji-Brener, A.G. Dalton, M.C. Balza, U. Courtis, A. Lemus-Domínguez, I. Fernández-Hilario, R. Cáceres-Levi, D. Working in the rain? Why leaf-cutting ants stop foraging when it’s raining
topic_facet	Ant behavior Atta cephalotes Costa Rica Environmental restrictions Foraging ant behavioral response environmental effect environmental factor experimental study foraging behavior noise rainfall relative humidity Costa Rica Animalia Atta Atta cephalotes Formicidae
description	Understanding how environmental factors modulate foraging is key to recognizing the adaptive value of animal behavior, especially in ectothermic organisms such as ants. We experimentally analyzed the effect of rain on the foraging of leaf-cutting ants, a key ant group that is commonly found in rainy habitats. Specifically, we experimentally discriminate among direct and indirect effects of rain on laden ants and explore whether ants respond to rain predictors by incrementing their speed. Watered loads were frequently dropped although ants were not wet, and watered ants also dropped their loads although loads were not wet. Watered leaf fragments increased their weight by 143% and were dropped independently with regards to area or symmetry. Watering the trail did not affect the proportion of ants that dropped their loads. Ants increased their speed by 30% after experimental increments in relative humidity and the noise of raindrops on leaves near the trail. Our experimental results confirm earlier anecdotic evidence of the negative effect of rainfall on the foraging of leaf-cutting ants. We demonstrate that rain can strongly limit ant foraging through different mechanisms, affecting both the ant itself, and the maneuverability of laden ants, by increasing the weight of their loads. We also depict behavioral responses that may mitigate this negative effect on foraging: walking faster at signals of rainfall to reduce the portion of leaf fragments lost. Our results illustrate how environmental factors can directly and indirectly constrain ant foraging and highlight the relevance of behavioral responses to mitigate these effects. © 2018, International Union for the Study of Social Insects (IUSSI).
format	JOUR
author	Farji-Brener, A.G. Dalton, M.C. Balza, U. Courtis, A. Lemus-Domínguez, I. Fernández-Hilario, R. Cáceres-Levi, D.
author_facet	Farji-Brener, A.G. Dalton, M.C. Balza, U. Courtis, A. Lemus-Domínguez, I. Fernández-Hilario, R. Cáceres-Levi, D.
author_sort	Farji-Brener, A.G.
title	Working in the rain? Why leaf-cutting ants stop foraging when it’s raining
title_short	Working in the rain? Why leaf-cutting ants stop foraging when it’s raining
title_full	Working in the rain? Why leaf-cutting ants stop foraging when it’s raining
title_fullStr	Working in the rain? Why leaf-cutting ants stop foraging when it’s raining
title_full_unstemmed	Working in the rain? Why leaf-cutting ants stop foraging when it’s raining
title_sort	working in the rain? why leaf-cutting ants stop foraging when it’s raining
url	http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12110/paper_00201812_v65_n2_p233_FarjiBrener
work_keys_str_mv	AT farjibrenerag workingintherainwhyleafcuttingantsstopforagingwhenitsraining AT daltonmc workingintherainwhyleafcuttingantsstopforagingwhenitsraining AT balzau workingintherainwhyleafcuttingantsstopforagingwhenitsraining AT courtisa workingintherainwhyleafcuttingantsstopforagingwhenitsraining AT lemusdominguezi workingintherainwhyleafcuttingantsstopforagingwhenitsraining AT fernandezhilarior workingintherainwhyleafcuttingantsstopforagingwhenitsraining AT cacereslevid workingintherainwhyleafcuttingantsstopforagingwhenitsraining
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Working in the rain? Why leaf-cutting ants stop foraging when it’s raining

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