IDENTITY CODE

"Behavioural syndromes, division of labour and communication of identity in complex insect societies"

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 Obiettivo del progetto (Objective)

'Animals, just like humans, differ consistently in behavioural traits such as aggressiveness, exploration, reactivity. The study of behavioural syndromes (animal personalities), defined as sets of correlated behaviours across situations, helps in explaining the evolutionary significance of individual variation. However, most studies have focussed on few model organisms with no, or relatively little, social structure. Social insects represent one of the pinnacles of social evolution. Their well-organized societies are based on an often extensive division of labour, which includes reproduction and is frequently accompanied by morphological differentiation. The extent to which this labour partitioning can be implemented depends on the efficiency of communication strategies: in particular, the communication of identity. In social insects, communication of identity involves multiple levels of recognition: inter-individual, within-colony and between-colony level. How effectively individual or group identity can be detected may depend on the behavioural type of the receiver, but this has never been explored in social insects. This project builds on the synergy between the expertise of the applicant and the host to investigate the evolutionary significance and the ontogeny of individual variation in stimulus response allowing recognition at different levels by using different species of ants, which are among the most advanced and ecologically successful animal societies. The project combines behavioural observations, chemical analysis, electrophysiology, quantitative genetics, neurobiology and cognitive studies to achieve an interdisciplinary understanding of the forces that have shaped individual behavioural variation and collective division of labour in ants. The project’s implementation will be facilitated by the applicant’s network of high-profile collaborators and will thus have a significant impact (co-operation, professional integration) and transfer of knowledge.'

Introduzione (Teaser)

Ants live in highly organised societies. An EU-funded study investigated the behaviour of ants and the methods used to communicate within the community.

Descrizione progetto (Article)

In ant societies, each ant has a specific role to play to contribute to the group's performance and ecological success. The project 'Behavioural syndromes, division of labour and communication of identity in complex insect societies' (http://identitycode.weebly.com (IDENTITY CODE)) examined the individual differences among ants and the ways in which they communicate their identity.

The division of labour among ants is primarily concerning two groups: the queen ants, responsible for reproduction, and the worker ants, which includes the majority of individuals in a colony. Ants communicate each other mainly through chemical cues. This project explored how chemical cues are used to communicate roles and identity within ant colonies.

For example, researchers studied the behaviour and the chemistry of worker carpenter ants with an induced illness. They found that these ants behave more aggressively towards foreign ants than healthy individuals. On the other hand, they leave their own nest to avoid spreading the disease.

In a different but comparable situation, researchers found that young queen leaf-cutter ants that have not been successful in mating and reproducing change their role and become workers. These two findings suggest that natural selection provides ants with adaptive behavioural flexibility.

When researchers examined ants' communication mechanisms between the queen and the workers, they discovered the first queen pheromone regulating worker sterility. This was discovered in the black garden ant (Laisus niger) and it is a signal of the queen to inform the worker ants that she is fertile. Researchers were also able to unravel the mechanisms used by ants to communicate social identity. It appears that they do so by determining the similarity of their cuticular hydrocarbons and through learning and memory abilities. In addition, researchers found a link between sucrose responsiveness, learning success and task specialisation in ants.

Taken together, the results provide new insights for better understanding the structure and communication of insect societies. They also contribute an improved understanding of the pivotal role of individual identity in social interactions.