Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-ndw9j Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-13T04:42:06.470Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Mortality of Atta sexdens rubropilosa (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) workers in contact with colony waste from different plant sources

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  14 April 2009

F.G. Lacerda ,
T.M.C. Della Lucia ,
O.L. Pereira ,
L.A. Peternelli  and
M.R. Tótola
F.G. Lacerda
Affiliation:
Departamento de Biologia Animal, Universidade Federal de Viçosa,Viçosa, MG36570-000, Brazil
T.M.C. Della Lucia*
Affiliation:
Departamento de Biologia Animal, Universidade Federal de Viçosa,Viçosa, MG36570-000, Brazil
O.L. Pereira
Affiliation:
Departamento de Fitopatologia, Universidade Federal de Viçosa, Viçosa, MG36570-000, Brazil
L.A. Peternelli
Affiliation:
Departamento de Informática, Universidade Federal de Viçosa, Viçosa, MG36570-000, Brazil
M.R. Tótola
Affiliation:
Departamento de Microbiologia, Universidade Federal de Viçosa, Viçosa, MG36570-000, Brazil
*
*Author for correspondence Fax: +55 31 3899 4012 E-mail: tdlucia@ufv.br
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

The objective of this work was to study the effect of colony waste on the mortality of workers of Atta sexdens rubropilosa Forel colonies fed with different plant substrates. Eight nests were used; two colonies each were fed with Acalypha wilkesiana Müller.Arg, Ligustrum japonicum Thunb, Eucalyptus urophylla S.T. Blake or a mixture of the three substrates in equal proportions. Irrespective of diet, being kept with waste led to higher mortality. However, workers that were kept in contact with waste produced by colonies fed Acalypha had higher average survival rate and later death when compared with workers from the other treatments. Workers from the Eucalyptus-fed colonies had the lowest survival rate and 50% of them died within four days of exposure to Eucalyptus waste. Trichoderma viride Pers. ex Gray, a fungus garden antagonist, and the entomopathogen Aspergillus flavus Link. ex Gray were present in the colonies supplied with all plants. The largest fungus diversity was verified in the waste of colonies fed Acalypha and the mixture of Acalypha, Ligustrum and Eucalyptus. Therefore, antibiotic properties of Acalypha did not reduce contaminant diversity but apparently minimized effects of pathogenic microorganisms present in the waste such as Asp. flavus. This may explain the highest survival rate of workers in this treatment.

Keywords

leaf-cutting antsplant materialrefusepathogen
Type
Research Paper
Information
Bulletin of Entomological Research , Volume 100 , Issue 1 , February 2010 , pp. 99 - 103
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2009

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Alade, P.I. & Irobi, O.N. (1993) Antimicrobial activities of crude leaf extracts of Acalypha wilkesiana. Journal of Ethnopharmacology 39, 171–174.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Autuori, M. (1947) Contribuição para o conhecimento da saúva (Atta spp. IV) O sauveiro depois da primeira revoada (Atta sexdens rubropilosa Forel, 1908). Arquivos do. Instituto Biológico 18, 39–70.Google Scholar
Baumgartner, W., Weiß, P. & Schindler, H. (1998) A nonparametric test for the general two-sample problem. Biometrics 54, 1129–1135.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bot, A.N.M., Currie, C.R., Hart, A.G. & Boomsma, J.J. (2001) Waste management in leaf-cutting ants. Ethology Ecology and Evolution 13, 225–237.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Chapuisat, M., Oppliger, A., Magliano, P. & Christe, P. (2007) Wood ants use resin to protect themselves against pathogens. Proceedings of the Royal Society of London, Series B 274, 2013–2017.Google ScholarPubMed
Crawley, M.J. (2002) Statistical Computing: An Introduction to Data Analysis using S-Plus. 761Chichester, UK, John Wiley & Sons Ltd.Google Scholar
Currie, C.R. (2001) Prevalence and impact of a virulent parasite on a tripartite mutualism. Oecologia 128, 99–106.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Currie, C.R. & Stuart, A.E. (2001) Weeding and grooming of pathogens in agriculture by ants. Proceedings of the Royal Society of London, Series B 268, 1033–1039.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Della Lucia, T.M.C., Vilela, E.F., Anjos, N. & Moreira, D.D.O. (1993) Criação de formigas cortadeiras em laboratório. pp. 151–162in Della Lucia, T.M.C. (Ed.) As Formigas Cortadeiras. Viçosa, Brazil, Folha de Viçosa.Google Scholar
Domsch, K.H., Gams, W.P. & Anderson, T. (1980) Compendium of Soil Fungi. 405New York, USA, Academic Press.Google Scholar
Feeny, P. (1970) Seasonal changes in oak leaf tannins and nutrients as a cause of spring feeding by winter moth caterpillars. Ecology 51, 561–581.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hart, A.G. & Ratnieks, F.L.W. (2001) Task partitioning, division of labour and nest compartimentalisation collectively isolate hazardous waste in the leaf-cutting ant Atta cephalotes. Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology 49, 387–392.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hart, A.G. & Ratnieks, F.L.W. (2002) Waste management in the leaf-cutting ant Atta colombica. Behavioral Ecology 13, 224–231.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hart, A.G., Bot, A.N.M. & Brown, M.J.F. (2002) A colony-level response to disease control in a leaf-cutting ant. Naturwissenschaften. 89, 275–277.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hillis, W.E. (1978) Wood quality and utilization. pp. 260–289in Hillis, W.E. & Brown, A.G. (Eds) Eucalyptus for Wood Production. Adelaide, Australia, Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization.Google Scholar
Hughes, W.O.H., Thomsen, L., Eilenberg, J. & Boomsma, J.J. (2004) Diversity of entomopathogenic fungi near leaf-cutting ant nests in a neotropical forest, with particular reference to Metarhizium anisopliae var. anisopliae. Journal of Invertebrate Pathology 85, 46–53.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lacerda, F.G., Della Lucia, T.M.C., Lima, E.R., Campos, L.A.O. & Pereira, O.L. (2006) Waste management by wokers of Atta sexdens rubropilosa (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) in colonies supplied with different substrates. Sociobiology 48, 165–173.Google Scholar
Ortiz, A. & Orduz, S. (2000) In vitro evaluation in Trichoderma and Gliocladium antagonism against the symbiotic fungus of fungus-growing ant Atta cephalotes. Mycopathologia 150, 53–60.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Penfold, A.R. & Willis, J.L. (1961) The Eucalypts. 551London, UK, Leonard Hill.Google Scholar
Ratkowsky, D.A. (1983). Non-Linear Regression Modeling: A Unified Practical Approach. 241 pp. New York, USA, Marcel Dekker.Google Scholar
Swain, T. (1979) Tannins and lignins. pp. 657–682in Rosenthal, G.A. & Janzen, D.P. (Eds), Herbivores: Their Interactions with Secondary Plant Metabolites. New York, USA, Academic Press.Google Scholar
Weber, N.A. (1972) Gardening ants: the Attines. American Philosophical Society 92, 1–146.Google Scholar