A nest relocation is costly for social insects, and involves hazards. Emigrations were studied in Temnothorax crassispinus ant colonies, which inhabit ephemeral nest sites, and which frequently change their nests. In a laboratory experiment, ant colonies from one group were forced to change their nest sites 10 times over a ca. 3-month period, whilst colonies from the second group were forced to adopt this practice twice (on the beginning of May, and in the second half of July). Colonies of the ant from both the groups reduced their total emigration duration. However, the duration of the transport phase remained unchanged. In the case of colonies with higher level of disturbance, there was no relation between colony growth rate and energy allocation in sexual individuals, whilst a negative correlation between these parameters was present in group with lower level of disturbance. In colonies with lower level of disturbance, the investment in sexuals was not correlated with the number of workers at the end of the experiment, whereas such a correlation was demonstrated for colonies with higher level of disturbance. The disturbance, and thus necessity of frequent nest relocations, may be perceived by ants as a signal that nest sites are of a lower quality and may contribute to a change in energy allocation.

中文翻译：

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Temnothorax crassispinus 蚁群在高低扰动下的迁徙速度和有性繁殖

对于群居昆虫来说，巢穴搬迁成本高昂，并且会带来危害。在 Temnothorax crassispinus 蚁群中研究了迁徙，这些蚁群栖息在短暂的巢穴中，并且经常更换巢穴。在实验室实验中，来自一组的蚁群被迫在大约 10 小时内更换巢穴 10 次。3 个月期间，而第二组的殖民地被迫采用这种做法两次（在 5 月初和 7 月下半月）。来自两组的蚂蚁群体都减少了它们的总迁徙时间。然而，运输阶段的持续时间保持不变。在干扰程度较高的群体中，有性个体的群体生长速度与能量分配之间没有关系，而在干扰程度较低的组中，这些参数之间存在负相关。在干扰程度较低的群体中，对性的投资与实验结束时的工人数量无关，而这种相关性在干扰程度较高的群体中得到证实。蚂蚁可能将干扰以及因此频繁搬迁巢穴的必要性视为巢穴质量较低的信号，并可能导致能量分配发生变化。