腾格里沙漠人工植被区掘穴蚁(Formica cunicularia)的生态功能

掘穴蚁（Formica cunieularia）营筑丘活动,并通过营巢活动影响土壤的物理化学特性,是中国干旱和半干旱地区营巢的优势蚁类。在沙坡头人工固沙植被区调查了掘穴蚁对不同固沙年代和不同地形人工固沙区土壤的影响;研究了掘穴蚁的营巢活动对土壤水分、理化性质和种子库的影响。 研究结果表明：随着固沙年代的延长,掘穴蚁的筑丘活动加强;掘穴蚁筑丘活动对地形的选择顺序依次分别为：丘间低地〉迎风坡〉丘顶〉背风坡;与邻近土壤相比,蚁丘的土壤含水量升高,土壤容重（0～10cm深）、有机质、电导率、全氮、全磷、全钾、可溶性氮、可溶性磷和可溶性钾在蚁丘富集;土壤容重（10～20cm深）和pH值下降;蚁丘对土壤种子库有明显影响（p〈0．01）,种子密度和多样性指数在不同取样点间的大小顺序为：苔藓结皮上的蚁丘〉苔藓结皮〉地衣结皮上的蚁丘〉地衣结皮。 在沙坡头人工固沙植被区,由于生态环境的改善,特别是土壤环境的提高,导致掘穴蚁大量定居,它的筑巢对土壤具有反馈作用,这种反馈作用导致土壤异质性增强,改善了土壤环境的状况,加速了土壤和植被的演变。     

From endogenous to exogenous pattern formation: Invasive plant species changes the spatial distribution of a native ant

Invasive species are a significant threat to global biodiversity, but our understanding of how invasive species impact native communities across space and time remains limited. Based on observations in an old field in Southeast Michigan spanning 35 years, our study documents significant impacts of habitat change, likely driven by the invasion of the shrub, Elaeagnus umbellata, on the nest distribution patterns and population demographics of a native ant species, Formica obscuripes. Landcover change in aerial photographs indicates that E. umbellata expanded aggressively, transforming a large proportion of the original open field into dense shrubland. By comparing the ant's landcover preferences before and after the invasion, we demonstrate that this species experienced a significant unfavorable change in its foraging areas. We also find that shrub landcover significantly moderates aggression between nests, suggesting nests are more related where there is more E. umbellata. This may represent a shift in reproductive strategy from queen flights, reported in the past, to asexual nest budding. Our results suggest that E. umbellata may affect the spatial distribution of F. obscuripes by shifting the drivers of nest pattern formation from an endogenous process (queen flights), which led to a uniform pattern, to a process that is both endogenous (nest budding) and exogenous (loss of preferred habitat), resulting in a significantly different clustered pattern. The number and sizes of F. obscuripes nests in our study site are projected to decrease in the next 40 years, although further study of this population's colony structures is needed to understand the extent of this decrease. Elaeagnus umbellata is a common invasive shrub, and similar impacts on native species might occur in its invasive range, or in areas with similar shrub invasions.     

Fitness and the level of homozygosity in a social insect

To date very few studies have addressed the effects of inbreeding in social Hymenoptera, perhaps because the costs of inbreeding are generally considered marginal owing to male haploidy whereby recessive deleterious alleles are strongly exposed to selection in males. Here, we present one of the first studies on the effects of queen and worker homozygosity on colony performance. In a wild population of the ant Formica exsecta, the relative investment of single‐queen colonies in sexual production decreased with increased worker homozygosity. This may either stem from increased homozygosity decreasing the likelihood of diploid brood to develop into queens or a lower efficiency of more homozygous workers at feeding larvae and thus a lower proportion of the female brood developing into queens. There was also a significant negative association between colony age and the level of queen but not worker homozygosity. This association may stem from inbreeding affecting queen lifespan and/or their fecundity, and thus colony survival. However, there was no association between queen homozygosity and colony size, suggesting that inbreeding affects colony survival as a result of inbred queens having a shorter lifespan rather than a lower fecundity. Finally, there was no significant association between either worker or queen homozygosity and the probability of successful colony founding, colony size and colony productivity, the three other traits studied. Overall, these results indicate that inbreeding depression may have important effects on colony fitness by affecting both the parental (queen) and offspring (worker) generations cohabiting within an ant colony.     

Raiding and Foraging Behavior of the Blood-Red Ant,Formica sanguinea Latr. (Hymenoptera,Formicidae)

In this paper we report the results of a detailed study on the behavioral ecology of slave raiding and foraging activity in the European blood-red ant, Formica sanguinea Latr. The field study was conducted over an unbroken period of 78 days, during which the activity of two dulotic colonies of this facultative slave-maker was observed for 10 h each day. It was possible to observe 26 raids distributed over 23 days, among which 18 were followed by the sacking of nests belonging to the species F. cunicularia, F. fusca, and Lasius emarginatus, whereas 8 failed. Simple, continuous, and simultaneous raids occurred. We recorded the timing, frequency, distance, and direction of slave raids, including the number of participants and the type of booty. Particular attention was devoted to the scouting behavior and raiding organization. Moreover, every day, we observed foraging and predatory behavior, during which adult insects (mainly ants), seeds, and berries were retrieved to the dulotic colonies. On the basis of our observations F. sanguinea seems to be a very efficient slave-maker and predatory species of the Raptiformica subgenus. Moreover, its dulotic behavior may be regarded as a continuation and an expansion of its foraging and predatory behavior, as predicted by Darwin's hypothesis for the origin and evolution of slavery in ants.     

Wood ants and a geometrid defoliator of birch: predation outweighs beneficial effects through the host plant

Soil amelioration by a wood-ant species and its consequences for the larval performance of autumnal moths feeding on mountain birch were studied at various distances from the nest mound. Soil nitrate and ammonium nitrogen did not show any clear relationship with distance. However, trees growing in the mound had over 20% more foliar nitrogen than more distant trees. When moth larvae were experimentally protected from predation, their survival rate and final weight tended to decrease with increasing distance. In a laboratory experiment with detached leaves, the relative growth rate of larvae was roughly 30% higher on leaves from trees located on the mound. Differences in larval performance refute the Plant Stress Hypothesis proposed by T.C.R. White and support P.W. Price's Plant Vigor Hypothesis. Predation by ants was examined along the same gradient in trees with and without a glue band that excluded ants from the canopy. Reduction in the daily survival rate of larvae attributable to ant predation was about 35% in trees growing in the mound and around 5% at a distance of 20 m. Other things being equal, about 25 times more larvae entering the penultimate instar would achieve the pupal stage outside the wood-ant territory than in the vicinity of the mound. While both the fertilizing and predatory influence of wood ants is clear, the domain of predation is much larger than the area where trees and their herbivores can exploit enhanced nutrient levels in and around ant mounds. The existence of undamaged green islands around ant mounds in otherwise totally defoliated mountain-birch forests cannot be explained by soil amelioration by wood ants but rather by their predatory activity. Received: 21 November 1996 / Accepted: 8 September 1997     

Seasonal changes in the response of wood-ants (Formica lugubris) to sucrose baits

Abstract. 1. The acceptability of sucrose solutions to Formica lugubris Zett. in the field was tested by offering droplets of known concentrations to ants tending aphids.
2. A probit model fitted to the data allowed the computation of the Median Effective Concentration (ED₅₀) and its confidence limits.
3. In spring and early summer ED₅₀ was about 0.15 M sucrose, but the ED₅₀ rose in 1 week at the end of June from 0.2 M to 0.9 M. The change was simultaneous on pine and birch trees. The ED₅₀ fell gradually to about 0.4 M in early November.
4. The increase in ED₅₀ is related to the production of the summer apterae in the aphids tended, Cinara pini (L.) on pines and Symydobius oblongus (von Heyden) on birch. This increases the 'quality' of food resource so that low sucrose concentrations can no longer compete for ant attendance.
5. The increase in ED₅₀ may limit the attendance of wood-ants at the nectaries of bracken, Pteridium aquilinum (L.) Kuhn. and at colonies of some other aphid species which are attended only in early summer.     

Inbreeding-related trade-offs in stress resistance in the ant Formica exsecta

Inbred individuals and populations are predicted to suffer from inbreeding depression, especially in times of stress. Under natural conditions, organisms are exposed to more than one stressor at any one time, highlighting the importance of stress resistance traits. We studied how inbreeding- and immunity-related traits are correlated under different dietary conditions in the ant Formica exsecta. Its natural diet varies in the amount and nature of plant secondary compounds and the level of free radicals, all of which require detoxification to maintain organismal homeostasis. We found that inbreeding decreased general antibacterial activity under dietary stress, suggesting inbreeding-related physiological trade-offs.