Cargando…

Nest Etiquette—Where Ants Go When Nature Calls

Sanitary behaviour is an important, but seldom studied, aspect of social living. Social insects have developed several strategies for dealing with waste and faecal matter, including dumping waste outside the nest and forming specialised waste-storage chambers. In some cases waste material and faeces...

Descripción completa

Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Czaczkes, Tomer J., Heinze, Jürgen, Ruther, Joachim
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Public Library of Science 2015
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4332866/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25692971
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0118376
_version_ 1782357960862728192
author Czaczkes, Tomer J.
Heinze, Jürgen
Ruther, Joachim
author_facet Czaczkes, Tomer J.
Heinze, Jürgen
Ruther, Joachim
author_sort Czaczkes, Tomer J.
collection PubMed
description Sanitary behaviour is an important, but seldom studied, aspect of social living. Social insects have developed several strategies for dealing with waste and faecal matter, including dumping waste outside the nest and forming specialised waste-storage chambers. In some cases waste material and faeces are put to use, either as a construction material or as a long-lasting signal, suggesting that faeces and waste may not always be dangerous. Here we examine a previously undescribed behaviour in ants – the formation of well-defined faecal patches. Lasius niger ants were housed in plaster nests and provided with coloured sucrose solution. After two months, 1–4 well defined dark patches, the colour of the sucrose solution, formed within each of the plaster nests. These patches never contained other waste material such as uneaten food items, or nestmate corpses. Such waste was collected in waste piles outside the nest. The coloured patches were thus distinct from previously described ‘kitchen middens’ in ants, and are best described as ‘toilets’. Why faeces is not removed with other waste materials is unclear. The presence of the toilets inside the nest suggests that they may not be an important source of pathogens, and may have a beneficial role.
format Online
Article
Text
id pubmed-4332866
institution National Center for Biotechnology Information
language English
publishDate 2015
publisher Public Library of Science
record_format MEDLINE/PubMed
spelling pubmed-43328662015-02-24 Nest Etiquette—Where Ants Go When Nature Calls Czaczkes, Tomer J. Heinze, Jürgen Ruther, Joachim PLoS One Research Article Sanitary behaviour is an important, but seldom studied, aspect of social living. Social insects have developed several strategies for dealing with waste and faecal matter, including dumping waste outside the nest and forming specialised waste-storage chambers. In some cases waste material and faeces are put to use, either as a construction material or as a long-lasting signal, suggesting that faeces and waste may not always be dangerous. Here we examine a previously undescribed behaviour in ants – the formation of well-defined faecal patches. Lasius niger ants were housed in plaster nests and provided with coloured sucrose solution. After two months, 1–4 well defined dark patches, the colour of the sucrose solution, formed within each of the plaster nests. These patches never contained other waste material such as uneaten food items, or nestmate corpses. Such waste was collected in waste piles outside the nest. The coloured patches were thus distinct from previously described ‘kitchen middens’ in ants, and are best described as ‘toilets’. Why faeces is not removed with other waste materials is unclear. The presence of the toilets inside the nest suggests that they may not be an important source of pathogens, and may have a beneficial role. Public Library of Science 2015-02-18 /pmc/articles/PMC4332866/ /pubmed/25692971 http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0118376 Text en © 2015 Czaczkes et al http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are properly credited.
spellingShingle Research Article
Czaczkes, Tomer J.
Heinze, Jürgen
Ruther, Joachim
Nest Etiquette—Where Ants Go When Nature Calls
title Nest Etiquette—Where Ants Go When Nature Calls
title_full Nest Etiquette—Where Ants Go When Nature Calls
title_fullStr Nest Etiquette—Where Ants Go When Nature Calls
title_full_unstemmed Nest Etiquette—Where Ants Go When Nature Calls
title_short Nest Etiquette—Where Ants Go When Nature Calls
title_sort nest etiquette—where ants go when nature calls
topic Research Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4332866/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25692971
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0118376
work_keys_str_mv AT czaczkestomerj nestetiquettewhereantsgowhennaturecalls
AT heinzejurgen nestetiquettewhereantsgowhennaturecalls
AT rutherjoachim nestetiquettewhereantsgowhennaturecalls