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Dual response to nest flooding during monsoon in an Indian ant
Flooding causes destruction of shelter and disruption of activity in animals occupying subterranean nests. To ensure their survival organisms have evolved various responses to combat this problem. In this study we examine the response of an Indian ant, Diacamma indicum, to nest flooding during the m...
Autores principales: | , |
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Formato: | Online Artículo Texto |
Lenguaje: | English |
Publicado: |
Nature Publishing Group
2015
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Materias: | |
Acceso en línea: | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4562246/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26349015 http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/srep13716 |
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author | Kolay, Swetashree Annagiri, Sumana |
author_facet | Kolay, Swetashree Annagiri, Sumana |
author_sort | Kolay, Swetashree |
collection | PubMed |
description | Flooding causes destruction of shelter and disruption of activity in animals occupying subterranean nests. To ensure their survival organisms have evolved various responses to combat this problem. In this study we examine the response of an Indian ant, Diacamma indicum, to nest flooding during the monsoon season. Based on characterization of nest location, architecture and the response of these ants to different levels of flooding in their natural habitat as well as in the laboratory, we infer that they exhibit a dual response. On the one hand, the challenges presented by monsoon are dealt with by occupying shallow nests and modifying the entrance with decorations and soil mounds. On the other hand, inundated nests are evacuated and the ants occupy shelters at higher elevations. We conclude that focused studies of the monsoon biology of species that dwell in such climatic conditions may help us appreciate how organisms deal with, and adapt to, extreme seasonal changes. |
format | Online Article Text |
id | pubmed-4562246 |
institution | National Center for Biotechnology Information |
language | English |
publishDate | 2015 |
publisher | Nature Publishing Group |
record_format | MEDLINE/PubMed |
spelling | pubmed-45622462015-09-15 Dual response to nest flooding during monsoon in an Indian ant Kolay, Swetashree Annagiri, Sumana Sci Rep Article Flooding causes destruction of shelter and disruption of activity in animals occupying subterranean nests. To ensure their survival organisms have evolved various responses to combat this problem. In this study we examine the response of an Indian ant, Diacamma indicum, to nest flooding during the monsoon season. Based on characterization of nest location, architecture and the response of these ants to different levels of flooding in their natural habitat as well as in the laboratory, we infer that they exhibit a dual response. On the one hand, the challenges presented by monsoon are dealt with by occupying shallow nests and modifying the entrance with decorations and soil mounds. On the other hand, inundated nests are evacuated and the ants occupy shelters at higher elevations. We conclude that focused studies of the monsoon biology of species that dwell in such climatic conditions may help us appreciate how organisms deal with, and adapt to, extreme seasonal changes. Nature Publishing Group 2015-09-08 /pmc/articles/PMC4562246/ /pubmed/26349015 http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/srep13716 Text en Copyright © 2015, Macmillan Publishers Limited http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons license, unless indicated otherwise in the credit line; if the material is not included under the Creative Commons license, users will need to obtain permission from the license holder to reproduce the material. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ |
spellingShingle | Article Kolay, Swetashree Annagiri, Sumana Dual response to nest flooding during monsoon in an Indian ant |
title | Dual response to nest flooding during monsoon in an Indian ant |
title_full | Dual response to nest flooding during monsoon in an Indian ant |
title_fullStr | Dual response to nest flooding during monsoon in an Indian ant |
title_full_unstemmed | Dual response to nest flooding during monsoon in an Indian ant |
title_short | Dual response to nest flooding during monsoon in an Indian ant |
title_sort | dual response to nest flooding during monsoon in an indian ant |
topic | Article |
url | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4562246/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26349015 http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/srep13716 |
work_keys_str_mv | AT kolayswetashree dualresponsetonestfloodingduringmonsooninanindianant AT annagirisumana dualresponsetonestfloodingduringmonsooninanindianant |