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Ants adjust their tool use strategy in response to foraging risk
Functional Ecology ( IF 4.6 ) Pub Date : 2020-10-07 , DOI: 10.1111/1365-2435.13671 Aiming Zhou 1 , Yuzhe Du 2 , Jian Chen 2
中文翻译：
蚂蚁根据觅食风险调整工具使用策略
更新日期：2020-12-07
Functional Ecology ( IF 4.6 ) Pub Date : 2020-10-07 , DOI: 10.1111/1365-2435.13671 Aiming Zhou 1 , Yuzhe Du 2 , Jian Chen 2
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- Ants are among a few invertebrates that can use certain tools. For example, some ants can use debris and soil grains to transport liquid food. Although there has been evidence showing that ants can select the most efficient tools in transporting liquid food, little is known about their flexibility in using a specific tool under environmental pressure.
- Black imported fire ants Solenopsis richteri Forel, can use sand grains as a tool for foraging. We hypothesized that S. richteri can adjust their strategy of tool use in response to various foraging risks. The hypothesis was tested by studying their sand use behaviour in response to sugar water with different drowning risks.
- The results support our hypothesis. Solenopsis richteri indeed adjusted their strategy of tool use in response to increased drowning risks. Due to their hydrophobic cuticle, S. richteri can float on water surface to forage directly with the minimal risk of drowning. However, when the drowning risk was elevated by reducing the surface tension of sugar water in a food container by the addition of surfactant, ants used sand grains to build a structure that could effectively function as a syphon instead of directly foraging inside the container. This sand structure could draw sugar water out of the container then to be collected by the ants, which not only reduced the drowning risk of ants, but also provided a larger operational space for their collection of sugar water.
- This study demonstrates that ants can not only recognize the increase in foraging risks, but also make corresponding adjustments to their strategy by using a specific tool. Our results also suggest that social insects can be highly flexible in their tool use in response to ecological challenges.
中文翻译：
蚂蚁根据觅食风险调整工具使用策略
- 蚂蚁是一些可以使用某些工具的无脊椎动物。例如，一些蚂蚁可以使用碎片和土壤谷物来运输液体食品。尽管有证据表明蚂蚁可以选择最有效的工具来运输液体食品，但对于在环境压力下使用特定工具的灵活性却知之甚少。
- 黑色进口的火蚁Solenopsis richteri Forel，可以使用沙粒作为觅食的工具。我们假设，S。richteri可以针对各种觅食风险调整他们的工具使用策略。通过研究其对不同淹水风险下的糖水的砂使用行为进行了检验。
- 结果支持我们的假设。为了应对溺水风险的增加，富国剑兰确实调整了其使用工具的策略。由于它们的疏水性表皮，致富链球菌可以漂浮在水面上直接觅食，而溺水的风险最小。但是，当通过添加表面活性剂来降低食品容器中糖水的表面张力而增加溺水风险时，蚂蚁使用沙粒来构建可以有效充当虹吸管的结构，而不是直接在容器内部觅食。这种沙子结构可以将糖水从容器中抽出，然后由蚂蚁收集，这不仅降低了蚂蚁被淹的风险，而且为收集糖水提供了更大的操作空间。
- 这项研究表明，蚂蚁不仅可以识别觅食风险的增加，而且可以通过使用特定的工具对其策略进行相应的调整。我们的研究结果还表明，社交昆虫在应对生态挑战时可以非常灵活地使用其工具。
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