Defensiveness of the fire ant, Solenopsis invicta, is increased during colony rafting
@article{Haight2006DefensivenessOT, title={Defensiveness of the fire ant, Solenopsis invicta, is increased during colony rafting}, author={Kevin L. Haight}, journal={Insectes Sociaux}, year={2006}, volume={53}, pages={32-36} }
Abstract.Colonies of the fire ant, Solenopsis invicta, can survive flood conditions by forming a raft of ants that floats on the water’s surface until the flood recedes or higher ground is found. Having been forced from the protection of their subterranean nests, rafting colonies are totally exposed and are without retreat. I tested the hypothesis that rafting S. invicta colonies would compensate for their elevated vulnerability by increasing their defensiveness. I measured defensiveness using…
28 Citations
Ontogeny of the Defensive Stinging Behavior of the Fire Ant, Solenopsis invicta
- PsychologyJournal of Insect Behavior
- 2007
Defensiveness is found to increase with age initially but then decline after a mid-age peak, and it is S. invicta's mid-aged workers that are the most defensive, probably because they are both physiologically and spatially the most suitable nest defenders.
Raft Formation by the Red Imported Fire Ant, Solenopsis invicta
- Environmental ScienceJournal of insect science
- 2011
This study shows that ants trapped under water escape by lifting themselves to the air-water interface through the use of bubbles collected from submerged substrate, and the presence of larvae was noted to increase colony survival and maximize raft longevity.
Fire ants self-assemble into waterproof rafts to survive floods
- Environmental ScienceProceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
- 2011
It is found that ants can considerably enhance their water repellency by linking their bodies together, a process analogous to the weaving of a waterproof fabric, in a self-assembled hydrophobic surface.
Ant Brood Function as Life Preservers during Floods
- BiologyPloS one
- 2014
This work investigates the position and function of different colony members, and the costs and benefits of this functional geometry in rafts of the floodplain-dwelling ant Formica selysi, and shows that workers and brood are extremely resistant to submersion.
Metabolic scaling of fire ants (Solenopsis invicta) engaged in collective behaviors
- EngineeringBiology open
- 2022
ABSTRACT During flash floods, fire ants (Solenopsis invicta Buren) link their bodies together to build rafts to stay afloat, and towers to anchor onto floating vegetation. Can such challenging…
A Non-lethal Water-based Removal-reapplication Technique for Behavioral Analysis of Cuticular Compounds of Ants
- BiologyJournal of Chemical Ecology
- 2009
It is demonstrated that cuticular compounds can be extracted from workers of the red fire ant, Solenopsis saevissima, and reapplied to the cuticle of workers from a sympatric species, Camponotus blandus, while keeping the ants alive.
Risk Assessment and the Effects of Refuge Availability on the Defensive Behaviors of the Southern Unstriped Scorpion (Vaejovis carolinianus)
- BiologyToxins
- 2020
Evidence that scorpions’ defensive behaviors changed based on the number of refuges and that these differences may be sex specific is found, suggesting that V. carolinianus can assess risk and features of the local environment and alter their defensive strategies accordingly.
Dynamics and shape of large fire ant rafts
- Environmental ScienceCommunicative & integrative biology
- 2012
This study makes two improvements on a previously reported model on the construction rate of rafts numbering between 3,000 and 10,000 individuals based upon experimental observations of randomly-directed linear ant trajectories atop the raft, and predicts more accurately the growth of large rafts.
The influence of colony density , temperature and 1 illumination intensity on the aggregation of fire ant , 2 Solenopsis invicta 3
- Chemistry
- 2013
Aggregation plays a basic role in the organization of social insects, and many factors 20 including environment and individual interaction can influence this behavior. In this study, we 21…
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