Termites, being vulnerable to parasitic or pathogenic infections due to large number of individuals living together in colonies, have evolved various behavioral and physiological tactics to resist the infections by those pathogens. Locomotion can help termites collect information on parasites and accordingly exhibit hygienic behaviors. Termites inevitably encounter entomopathogenic fungi during nesting and foraging. However, how these fungal pathogens influence locomotion of termites and how hygienic behavior benefits their survival remains unknown. Here, we examined locomotion alteration of the termite Reticulitermes chinensis (Isoptera: Rhinotermitidae) after infections with different concentrations of the entomopathogenic fungus Metarhizium anisopliae (Hypocreales: Clavicipitaceae). When R. chinensis was isolated, the low concentration (5 × 103 conidia/ml) significantly increased termite locomotion after 6, 12, and 24 h compared with control. However, the high concentrations (5 × 107, 5 × 109 conidia/ml) significantly decreased termite locomotion after 48 h, and termite survival was also significantly lower at 5 × 107 and 5 × 109 conidia/ml compared with the low concentrations and the control. When R. chinensis was in group, however, the locomotion significantly increased 24 h after exposure to 5 × 103 and 5 × 109 conidia/ml but was normalized after 48 h of exposure compared with the control. Allogrooming was significantly higher at 5 × 103 and 5 × 109 conidia/ml compared with the control. The fungal infection did not result in significantly higher mortality of the group termites probably owing to their allogrooming. These findings enhance our understanding on how a termite species copes with biotic stress (i.e., fungal infections) via adaptive behaviors.

中文翻译：

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白蚁运动和变种对致病真菌感染的反应的改变。

由于在殖民地生活在一起的大量个体，白蚁容易受到寄生虫或病原体感染，因此已经进化出各种行为和生理策略来抵抗那些病原体的感染。运动可以帮助白蚁收集有关寄生虫的信息，从而表现出卫生行为。白蚁在筑巢和觅食期间不可避免地会遇到昆虫病原真菌。但是，这些真菌病原体如何影响白蚁的运动以及卫生行为如何有利于它们的生存仍然未知。在这里，我们研究了不同浓度的昆虫病原真菌变角变菌（Myrhizium anisopliae）（Hypocreales：Clavicipitaceae）感染后白蚁网眼白蚁（Isoptera：Rhinotermitidae）的运动变化。当中华分离株被分离时，与对照相比，低浓度（5×103分生孢子/ ml）在6、12和24 h后白蚁的运动明显增加。但是，高浓度（5×107、5×109分生孢子/ ml）在48小时后显着降低了白蚁的运动，与低浓度和低浓度的白蚁相比，在5×107和5×109分生孢子/ ml下白蚁的存活率也显着降低。控制。然而，当中华红毛草在组中时，运动在暴露于5×103和5×109分生孢子/ ml后24 h显着增加，但与对照相比在暴露48 h后恢复正常。与对照组相比，同种异养率在5×103和5×109分生孢子/ ml时显着更高。真菌感染并没有导致白蚁的死亡率显着升高，这可能是由于它们的配种所致。