Targeted worker removal reveals a lack of flexibility in brood transport specialisation with no compensatory gain in efficiency
Abstract Division of labour is widely thought to increase the task efficiency of eusocial insects. Workers can switch their task to compensate for sudden changes in demand, providing flexible task allocation. In combination with automated tracking technology, we developed a robotic system to precise...
| Main Authors: | , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Nature Portfolio
2024-02-01
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| Series: | Scientific Reports |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-024-55244-w |
| _version_ | 1827327633488084992 |
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| author | Sean McGregor Fazil E. Uslu Mahmut Selman Sakar Laurent Keller |
| author_facet | Sean McGregor Fazil E. Uslu Mahmut Selman Sakar Laurent Keller |
| author_sort | Sean McGregor |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Abstract Division of labour is widely thought to increase the task efficiency of eusocial insects. Workers can switch their task to compensate for sudden changes in demand, providing flexible task allocation. In combination with automated tracking technology, we developed a robotic system to precisely control and spatiotemporally manipulate floor temperature over days, which allowed us to predictably drive brood transport behaviour in colonies of the ant Camponotus floridanus. Our results indicate that a small number of workers, usually minors belonging to the nurse social group, are highly specialised for brood transport. There was no difference in the speed at which workers transported brood, suggesting that specialisation does not correlate with efficiency. Workers often started to transport the brood only after having identified a better location. There was no evidence that workers shared information about the presence of a better location. Notably, once brood transporters had been removed, none of the remaining workers performed this task, and the brood transport completely stopped. When brood transporters were returned to their colony, brood transport was immediately restored. Taken together, our study reveals that brood transport is an inflexible task, achieved through the synchronous actions of a few privately informed specialist workers. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-07T15:04:07Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-3a3bf0bccdba46858e338272a667e5b5 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2045-2322 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-07T15:04:07Z |
| publishDate | 2024-02-01 |
| publisher | Nature Portfolio |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Scientific Reports |
| spelling | doaj.art-3a3bf0bccdba46858e338272a667e5b52024-03-05T18:58:08ZengNature PortfolioScientific Reports2045-23222024-02-0114111610.1038/s41598-024-55244-wTargeted worker removal reveals a lack of flexibility in brood transport specialisation with no compensatory gain in efficiencySean McGregor0Fazil E. Uslu1Mahmut Selman Sakar2Laurent Keller3Department of Ecology and Evolution, University of LausanneInstitute of Mechanical Engineering and Institute of Bioengineering, Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de LausanneInstitute of Mechanical Engineering and Institute of Bioengineering, Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de LausanneSocial Evolution UnitAbstract Division of labour is widely thought to increase the task efficiency of eusocial insects. Workers can switch their task to compensate for sudden changes in demand, providing flexible task allocation. In combination with automated tracking technology, we developed a robotic system to precisely control and spatiotemporally manipulate floor temperature over days, which allowed us to predictably drive brood transport behaviour in colonies of the ant Camponotus floridanus. Our results indicate that a small number of workers, usually minors belonging to the nurse social group, are highly specialised for brood transport. There was no difference in the speed at which workers transported brood, suggesting that specialisation does not correlate with efficiency. Workers often started to transport the brood only after having identified a better location. There was no evidence that workers shared information about the presence of a better location. Notably, once brood transporters had been removed, none of the remaining workers performed this task, and the brood transport completely stopped. When brood transporters were returned to their colony, brood transport was immediately restored. Taken together, our study reveals that brood transport is an inflexible task, achieved through the synchronous actions of a few privately informed specialist workers.https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-024-55244-wTask allocationTemperature control systemThermoregulationBrood careCamponotus floridanusAutomated tracking |
| spellingShingle | Sean McGregor Fazil E. Uslu Mahmut Selman Sakar Laurent Keller Targeted worker removal reveals a lack of flexibility in brood transport specialisation with no compensatory gain in efficiency Scientific Reports Task allocation Temperature control system Thermoregulation Brood care Camponotus floridanus Automated tracking |
| title | Targeted worker removal reveals a lack of flexibility in brood transport specialisation with no compensatory gain in efficiency |
| title_full | Targeted worker removal reveals a lack of flexibility in brood transport specialisation with no compensatory gain in efficiency |
| title_fullStr | Targeted worker removal reveals a lack of flexibility in brood transport specialisation with no compensatory gain in efficiency |
| title_full_unstemmed | Targeted worker removal reveals a lack of flexibility in brood transport specialisation with no compensatory gain in efficiency |
| title_short | Targeted worker removal reveals a lack of flexibility in brood transport specialisation with no compensatory gain in efficiency |
| title_sort | targeted worker removal reveals a lack of flexibility in brood transport specialisation with no compensatory gain in efficiency |
| topic | Task allocation Temperature control system Thermoregulation Brood care Camponotus floridanus Automated tracking |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-024-55244-w |
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