---
_id: '2161'
abstract:
- lang: eng
text: 'Repeated pathogen exposure is a common threat in colonies of social insects,
posing selection pressures on colony members to respond with improved disease-defense
performance. We here tested whether experience gained by repeated tending of low-level
fungus-exposed (Metarhizium robertsii) larvae may alter the performance of sanitary
brood care in the clonal ant, Platythyrea punctata. We trained ants individually
over nine consecutive trials to either sham-treated or fungus-exposed larvae.
We then compared the larval grooming behavior of naive and trained ants and measured
how effectively they removed infectious fungal conidiospores from the fungus-exposed
larvae. We found that the ants changed the duration of larval grooming in response
to both, larval treatment and their level of experience: (1) sham-treated larvae
received longer grooming than the fungus-exposed larvae and (2) trained ants performed
less self-grooming but longer larval grooming than naive ants, which was true
for both, ants trained to fungus-exposed and also to sham-treated larvae. Ants
that groomed the fungus-exposed larvae for longer periods removed a higher number
of fungal conidiospores from the surface of the fungus-exposed larvae. As experienced
ants performed longer larval grooming, they were more effective in fungal removal,
thus making them better caretakers under pathogen attack of the colony. By studying
this clonal ant, we can thus conclude that even in the absence of genetic variation
between colony members, differences in experience levels of brood care may affect
performance of sanitary brood care in social insects.'
acknowledgement: "We thank Katrin Kellner for colony establishment and characterization,
Mike Bidochka for the fungal strain, Meghan Vyleta for fungal strain characterization,
Martina Klatt and Simon Tragust for help in the laboratory, Dimitri Missoh for developing
the software BioLogic, and Mark Brown and Raphaël Jeanson for discussion and help
with data analysis. The study was funded by the European Research Council (ERC Starting
Grant to SC; Marie Curie IEF to LVU) and the German Research Foundation DFG (to
SC and to JH), and CW received funding by the doctoral school Diversité du Vivant
(Cotutelle project to CD and SC).\r\n"
article_processing_charge: No
article_type: original
author:
- first_name: Claudia
full_name: Westhus, Claudia
id: ca9c6ca9-e8aa-11ec-a586-b9471ede0494
last_name: Westhus
- first_name: Line V
full_name: Ugelvig, Line V
id: 3DC97C8E-F248-11E8-B48F-1D18A9856A87
last_name: Ugelvig
orcid: 0000-0003-1832-8883
- first_name: Edouard
full_name: Tourdot, Edouard
last_name: Tourdot
- first_name: Jürgen
full_name: Heinze, Jürgen
last_name: Heinze
- first_name: Claudie
full_name: Doums, Claudie
last_name: Doums
- first_name: Sylvia
full_name: Cremer, Sylvia
id: 2F64EC8C-F248-11E8-B48F-1D18A9856A87
last_name: Cremer
orcid: 0000-0002-2193-3868
citation:
ama: Westhus C, Ugelvig LV, Tourdot E, Heinze J, Doums C, Cremer S. Increased grooming
after repeated brood care provides sanitary benefits in a clonal ant. Behavioral
Ecology and Sociobiology. 2014;68(10):1701-1710. doi:10.1007/s00265-014-1778-8
apa: Westhus, C., Ugelvig, L. V., Tourdot, E., Heinze, J., Doums, C., & Cremer,
S. (2014). Increased grooming after repeated brood care provides sanitary benefits
in a clonal ant. Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology. Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00265-014-1778-8
chicago: Westhus, Claudia, Line V Ugelvig, Edouard Tourdot, Jürgen Heinze, Claudie
Doums, and Sylvia Cremer. “Increased Grooming after Repeated Brood Care Provides
Sanitary Benefits in a Clonal Ant.” Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology.
Springer, 2014. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00265-014-1778-8.
ieee: C. Westhus, L. V. Ugelvig, E. Tourdot, J. Heinze, C. Doums, and S. Cremer,
“Increased grooming after repeated brood care provides sanitary benefits in a
clonal ant,” Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology, vol. 68, no. 10. Springer,
pp. 1701–1710, 2014.
ista: Westhus C, Ugelvig LV, Tourdot E, Heinze J, Doums C, Cremer S. 2014. Increased
grooming after repeated brood care provides sanitary benefits in a clonal ant.
Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology. 68(10), 1701–1710.
mla: Westhus, Claudia, et al. “Increased Grooming after Repeated Brood Care Provides
Sanitary Benefits in a Clonal Ant.” Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology,
vol. 68, no. 10, Springer, 2014, pp. 1701–10, doi:10.1007/s00265-014-1778-8.
short: C. Westhus, L.V. Ugelvig, E. Tourdot, J. Heinze, C. Doums, S. Cremer, Behavioral
Ecology and Sociobiology 68 (2014) 1701–1710.
date_created: 2018-12-11T11:56:03Z
date_published: 2014-07-23T00:00:00Z
date_updated: 2023-02-23T14:06:46Z
day: '23'
department:
- _id: SyCr
doi: 10.1007/s00265-014-1778-8
ec_funded: 1
intvolume: ' 68'
issue: '10'
language:
- iso: eng
month: '07'
oa_version: None
page: 1701 - 1710
project:
- _id: 25681D80-B435-11E9-9278-68D0E5697425
call_identifier: FP7
grant_number: '291734'
name: International IST Postdoc Fellowship Programme
- _id: 25DC711C-B435-11E9-9278-68D0E5697425
call_identifier: FP7
grant_number: '243071'
name: 'Social Vaccination in Ant Colonies: from Individual Mechanisms to Society
Effects'
- _id: 25DAF0B2-B435-11E9-9278-68D0E5697425
grant_number: CR-118/3-1
name: Host-Parasite Coevolution
publication: Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology
publication_identifier:
issn:
- 0340-5443
publication_status: published
publisher: Springer
publist_id: '4823'
quality_controlled: '1'
related_material:
record:
- id: '9742'
relation: research_data
status: public
scopus_import: '1'
status: public
title: Increased grooming after repeated brood care provides sanitary benefits in
a clonal ant
type: journal_article
user_id: 2DF688A6-F248-11E8-B48F-1D18A9856A87
volume: 68
year: '2014'
...