In most eusocial insects, the division of labour results in relatively few individuals foraging for the entire colony. Thus, the survival of the colony depends on its efficiency in meeting the nutritional needs of all its members. Here, we characterise the network topology of a eusocial insect to understand the role and centrality of each caste in this network during the process of food dissemination. We constructed trophallaxis networks from 34 food-exchange experiments in black garden ants (Lasius niger). We tested the influence of brood and colony size on (i) global indices at the network level (i.e. efficiency, resilience, centralisation and modularity) and (ii) individual values (i.e. degree, strength, betweenness and the clustering coefficient). Network resilience, the ratio between global efficiency and centralisation, was stable with colony size but increased in the presence of broods, presumably in response to the nutritional needs of larvae. Individual metrics highlighted the major role of foragers in food dissemination. In addition, a hierarchical clustering analysis suggested that some domestics acted as intermediaries between foragers and other domestics. Networks appeared to be hierarchical rather than random or centralised exclusively around foragers. Finally, our results suggested that networks emerging from social insect interactions can improve group performance and thus colony fitness. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.

中文翻译：

---

黑花园蚂蚁 Lasius niger 中食物交换的等级网络

在大多数真社会性昆虫中，分工导致为整个群体觅食的个体相对较少。因此，群体的生存取决于其满足所有成员营养需求的效率。在这里，我们描述了一种真社会性昆虫的网络拓扑结构，以了解在食物传播过程中每个种姓在该网络中的作用和中心地位。我们从 34 种黑色花园蚂蚁（Lasius niger）的食物交换实验中构建了 trophallaxis 网络。我们测试了育雏和群体大小对 (i) 网络级别的全局指数（即效率、弹性、集中化和模块化）和 (ii) 个体值（即程度、强度、介数和聚类系数）的影响。网络弹性，全球效率和中心化之间的比率，集落大小稳定，但在有育雏的情况下会增加，大概是为了满足幼虫的营养需求。个别指标突出了觅食者在食物传播中的主要作用。此外，层次聚类分析表明，一些家养动物充当了觅食者和其他家养动物之间的中介。网络似乎是分层的，而不是随机的或专门围绕觅食者集中的。最后，我们的结果表明，从社会昆虫互动中产生的网络可以提高群体表现，从而提高群体适应性。本文受版权保护。版权所有。层次聚类分析表明，一些家养动物充当了觅食者和其他家养动物之间的中介。网络似乎是分层的，而不是随机的或专门围绕觅食者集中的。最后，我们的结果表明，从社会昆虫互动中产生的网络可以提高群体表现，从而提高群体适应性。本文受版权保护。版权所有。层次聚类分析表明，一些家养动物充当了觅食者和其他家养动物之间的中介。网络似乎是分层的，而不是随机的或专门围绕觅食者集中的。最后，我们的结果表明，从社会昆虫互动中产生的网络可以提高群体表现，从而提高群体适应性。本文受版权保护。版权所有。