容器形状和出口位置对台湾乳白蚁逃遁行为的影响(英文)

【目的】逃离危险对集群生活的动物来说是一项重要挑战。白蚁是真社会性昆虫，群体密度较大。因此，白蚁可能进化出了特殊的策略集体逃离危险情境。【方法】本研究比较了实验室条件下台湾乳白蚁Coptotermes formosanus工蚁在不同形状容器(没有出口的圆形和方形容器)的逃遁行为，并调查了在有出口的情况下，台湾乳白蚁工蚁从圆形容器边缘、方形容器直角处和方形容器直角边中间的撤离效 率。【结果】在没有出口的情况下，受惊的台湾乳白蚁立即移动到圆形或方形容器的边缘区域并沿着容器的壁移动。然而，在方形容器的直角处，逃遁的台湾乳白蚁工蚁形成明显的堵塞(直角附近的白蚁密度显著高于其他区域，而移动速度显著低于其他区域的白蚁)。当容器上有出口时，大部分台湾乳白蚁工蚁分散在容器边缘，因此在出口位置周围未发现明显的堵塞。有趣的是，台湾乳白蚁工蚁逃出有出口的圆形容器的时间与从出口在直角附近的方形容器的无显著差异，但其从出口在直角边中间的方形容器的逃出时间更长。【结论】研究结果表明容器形状与出口位置均对台湾乳白蚁工蚁的逃遁行为与撤离效率造成影响。此外，白蚁使用了特殊的策略来避免多见于其他群居动物(如人类、小鼠等)的“快即慢”效应。由于白蚁工蚁没有视觉，研究白蚁的逃遁策略可为人群如何高效撤离可视度较低的危险环境提供启示。

Effects of arena shape andexit location on the escapingbehavior of the Formosan subterranean termite,Coptotermesformosanus(Blattodea: Rhinotermitidae) (In English)

【Aim】 Escaping from danger is a great challenge for group-living animals.Termites are eusocial insects that live in high densities. Therefore, they may have evolvedsome unique strategies to collectively escape from dangers. 【Methods】 The escapingbehaviors of Coptotermes formosanus workers in arenas with different shapes (round- andsquare-shaped arenas without an exit) were compared under laboratory conditions, and theevacuation efficiencies of C. formosanus workers escaped from round-shaped arenas (with anexit) and square-shaped arenas (with an exit on the corner or middle of the sidewall) wereinvestigated. 【Results】 The disturbed workers of C. formosanus rapidly moved to the edgeof round- and square-shaped arenas (without an exit) and ran along the wall. However,this wall-following behavior of C. formosanus workers caused jamming on the corners ofsquare-shaped arenas, where significantly higher density but lower moving speed of workertermites were observed compared with non-corner areas. When an exit was provided, nojamming was observed around exits because escaping C. formosanus workers were dispersedalong the wall. Interestingly, the evacuation time of C. formosanus workers was similarwhen compared between round-shaped arenas with an exit and square-shaped arenas with anexit on the corner. However, C. formosanus workers spent significantly more time inevacuating from square-shaped arenas with an exit located in the middle of the sidewall.【Conclusion】 These results suggest that both arena shape and exit location affect theescaping behavior and evacuation efficiency of C. formosanus workers. In addition, termitesadopt unique escaping strategies to avoid the “faster-is-slower” effects usuallyexhibit in other group-living animals (e.g., humans, and mice). Because worker termitesare blind, understanding the escaping behaviors of termites may bring insight to improvingevacuation efficiency for humans under poor-visibility conditions.