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Animal Behavior - BIO 335
Report on the Progress of Experiments conducted
Group Members:
Vishnu K Narayanan (20111010)
Ghorpade Smita M (20111012)
P S Lakshmi (20111015)
Pravallika Govada (20111072)
Experiment 1:
Model Organism: Black, Red ants from three different colonies
Behavior of Interest:
Aggression, when members of one colony were made to stay with those from another colony. Cooperation between ants when limited food was provided.
Experiment Conducted:
- Aim: To study ant behaǀior when they're taken away from their colony, and introduced into a completely new environment with stranger ants (from other colonies). - Procedure: Worker ants were collected in a falcon from 3 different places, and were placed in soil from the same three places. This apparatus was placed in a bigger tumbler, which had water filled till the brim (to ensure they don't escape). Observations were taken as to whether the ants from different colonies were being aggressive to each other, and about their foraging behavior in the presence of other ants.
Chocolate crumbs were provided as food.
- Observations : Interaction between ants from different colonies was scored after one hour intervals. - Results: Instead of the expected aggressive behavior between ants from different colonies, they were seen to be sharing food. No aggression was observed. Most of the ants attempted crossing the water barrier, and in the process, died. - Possible Speculation: Literature suggests that the queen ant emits a scent that makes the worker ants do what she wants them to. When they leaǀe the colony, they can't surǀiǀe on their own because they're either hungry and die or they're in great need for the scent of their colony. Because the earlier experiment was inconclusive, another set of experiments were designed to be done (on a different colony altogether) and out of which the one implemented has been described below.
Experiment 2:
Model Organism : Black Carpenter Ants
- Genus Identification : Looking at the morphology, we assume it is from the Camponotus genus, but it has to be made sure by further charachterisation.
The Ant Colony
Worker Ant
The second entrance to the colony
Behavior Of Interest:
- As a sanitary measure, in order to prevent diseases and infections from spreading through the colony, some social insects are seen to carry their nest mates' corpses away from the colony. This behavior is referred to as Necrophoresis. Camponotus genus has been shown to exhibit Necrophoresis[1] , and studies reveal that this behavior is triggered stop detecting the chemical signals associated with life, mainly the ant produced compounds (eg. dolichodial and iridomyrmecin ) which are released by the corpse cuticle freshly after death [2]. The response of (Argentine) ant workers to corpses of nest mates, and to inanimate objects has been charachterised as the graph below: [2] - Since the colony found was speculated to be of the above mentioned genus, it was considered as a good population model to look at Necrophoresis. We could also make sure using further experiments whether this behavior is actually driven by the need to keep the colony safe from diseases.
Experiment Conducted :
- Aim: To see whether Necrophoresis is exhibited in the colony of interest. To see whether Necrophoresis is dependent on the ant produced chemicals associated with life. - Procedure: Worker ants were decapacitated, and were introduced immediately after their death, in a 5 - 10 cm radius from entrance of the colony. The corpse was under observation for 2 hours after its introduction there. Whether or not the nest mates carry the corpse away, and if at all they carry, when they carry it away, was recorded. The control corpses are the ones which were introduced near the colony immediately after death, and the experimental ones are the one that were capacitated, sprayed with deo, and then introduced in the vicinity of the colony. - Observations: Three ants were decapacitated, using a using forceps. Two of them were controls, and the other one was the deo sprayed. - Results: The two control corpses were observed to be carried away from the colony within
90 mins of their introduction there.
The experimental corpse wasn't carried away by its nest mates eǀen after 2 hours. - Conclusions: It is now established that the colony of selection exhibits Necrophoresis, since dead ants are seen to be carried by their nest mates. Eventhough it seems from the observations above that the ants detect olefactory cues to know if their nest mates are alive or not, this cannot be directly implicated from the observations made above. This is because we need to have many more controls in order to make this assumption. For example, as another control, we need to introduce a live deo sprayed ant into the colony, and see if the nest mates recognize it or not. Also, the fragrance of the deo can fade away in some time, and we need to make sure that the nest mates carry away the corpse after the effects of the deo has worn off. Also, the sample size of observations are very few to generalize anything. Thus, nothing constructive can be concluded as of now, from the above experiment.
Future work:
Repeat the above experiment for higher sample numbers. The sample space of the experiment was only one. We observed the experimental sample for only 2 hours. This is not enough for the smell of deodorant to go away. We didn't obserǀe what happens after the smell goes off. Characterize the behavior of the very first ants that approach the dead ant.
References:
1. ͞Necrophoresis in two Indian ant species, Camponotus compressus (Fabricius) and Diacamma
63 (2) : 87-91 ISSN No. 0373-5893.
2. ͞Chemical signals associated with life inhibit necrophoresis in Argentine ants", Dong-Hwan Choe
et al, PNAS(2009), doi:10.1073/pnas.0901270106.
3. http://www.bubblegum-productions.com/anthony/social.htm
Acknowledgements:
1. Photo Courtesy : Vishnu K Narayanan
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[PDF] CHEMICAL RELEASERS OF NECROPHORIC BEHAVIOR IN ANTS