Cargando…

Leafcutter ants adjust foraging behaviours when exposed to noise disturbance

We investigate the impact of anthropogenic noise on the foraging efficiency of leafcutter ants (Acromyrmex octospinosus) in a controlled laboratory experiment. Anthropogenic noise is a widespread, pervasive and increasing environmental pollutant and its negative impacts on animal fitness and behavio...

Descripción completa

Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Byrne, Briony, de Kort, Selvino R., Pedley, Scott M.
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Public Library of Science 2022
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9176835/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/35675369
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0269517
_version_ 1784722757680889856
author Byrne, Briony
de Kort, Selvino R.
Pedley, Scott M.
author_facet Byrne, Briony
de Kort, Selvino R.
Pedley, Scott M.
author_sort Byrne, Briony
collection PubMed
description We investigate the impact of anthropogenic noise on the foraging efficiency of leafcutter ants (Acromyrmex octospinosus) in a controlled laboratory experiment. Anthropogenic noise is a widespread, pervasive and increasing environmental pollutant and its negative impacts on animal fitness and behaviour have been well documented. Much of this evidence has come from studies concerning vertebrate species with very little evidence for terrestrial invertebrates, especially social living invertebrates. We compare movement speed, forage fragment size, and colony activity levels of ants exposed to intermittent elevated noise and in ambient noise conditions. We use intermittent and temporally unpredictable bursts of white noise produced from a vibration speaker to create the elevated noise profile. Ant movement speed increased under elevated noise conditions when travelling to collect forage material and when returning to the colony nest. The size of individually measured foraged material was significantly reduced under elevated noise conditions. Colony activity, the number of ants moving along the forage route, was not affected by elevated noise and was consistent throughout the foraging events. Increased foraging speed and smaller forage fragments suggests that the ants had to make more foraging trips over an extended period, which is likely to affect energy expenditure and increases exposure to predators. This is likely to have significant fitness impacts for the colony over time.
format Online
Article
Text
id pubmed-9176835
institution National Center for Biotechnology Information
language English
publishDate 2022
publisher Public Library of Science
record_format MEDLINE/PubMed
spelling pubmed-91768352022-06-09 Leafcutter ants adjust foraging behaviours when exposed to noise disturbance Byrne, Briony de Kort, Selvino R. Pedley, Scott M. PLoS One Research Article We investigate the impact of anthropogenic noise on the foraging efficiency of leafcutter ants (Acromyrmex octospinosus) in a controlled laboratory experiment. Anthropogenic noise is a widespread, pervasive and increasing environmental pollutant and its negative impacts on animal fitness and behaviour have been well documented. Much of this evidence has come from studies concerning vertebrate species with very little evidence for terrestrial invertebrates, especially social living invertebrates. We compare movement speed, forage fragment size, and colony activity levels of ants exposed to intermittent elevated noise and in ambient noise conditions. We use intermittent and temporally unpredictable bursts of white noise produced from a vibration speaker to create the elevated noise profile. Ant movement speed increased under elevated noise conditions when travelling to collect forage material and when returning to the colony nest. The size of individually measured foraged material was significantly reduced under elevated noise conditions. Colony activity, the number of ants moving along the forage route, was not affected by elevated noise and was consistent throughout the foraging events. Increased foraging speed and smaller forage fragments suggests that the ants had to make more foraging trips over an extended period, which is likely to affect energy expenditure and increases exposure to predators. This is likely to have significant fitness impacts for the colony over time. Public Library of Science 2022-06-08 /pmc/articles/PMC9176835/ /pubmed/35675369 http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0269517 Text en © 2022 Byrne et al https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) , which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
spellingShingle Research Article
Byrne, Briony
de Kort, Selvino R.
Pedley, Scott M.
Leafcutter ants adjust foraging behaviours when exposed to noise disturbance
title Leafcutter ants adjust foraging behaviours when exposed to noise disturbance
title_full Leafcutter ants adjust foraging behaviours when exposed to noise disturbance
title_fullStr Leafcutter ants adjust foraging behaviours when exposed to noise disturbance
title_full_unstemmed Leafcutter ants adjust foraging behaviours when exposed to noise disturbance
title_short Leafcutter ants adjust foraging behaviours when exposed to noise disturbance
title_sort leafcutter ants adjust foraging behaviours when exposed to noise disturbance
topic Research Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9176835/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/35675369
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0269517
work_keys_str_mv AT byrnebriony leafcutterantsadjustforagingbehaviourswhenexposedtonoisedisturbance
AT dekortselvinor leafcutterantsadjustforagingbehaviourswhenexposedtonoisedisturbance
AT pedleyscottm leafcutterantsadjustforagingbehaviourswhenexposedtonoisedisturbance