• DOI:10.1007/s001140050780
Corpus ID: 7482935

Communal peeing: a new mode of flood control in ants

@article{Maschwitz2000CommunalPA,
  title={Communal peeing: a new mode of flood control in ants},
  author={U. Maschwitz and J. Moog},
  journal={Naturwissenschaften},
  year={2000},
  volume={87},
  pages={563-565}
}

U. Maschwitz, J. Moog

Published 2000

Biology, Medicine

Naturwissenschaften

Abstract The behavioral response of the obligate bamboo-nesting ant Cataulacus muticus to nest flooding was studied in a perhumid tropical rainforest in Malaysia and in the laboratory. The hollow internodes of giant bamboo, in which C. muticus exclusively nests, are prone to flooding by heavy rains. The ants showed a two-graded response to flooding. During heavy rain workers block the nest entrances with their heads to reduce water influx. However, rainwater may still intrude into the nest… CONTINUE READING

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