Reduced biological control and enhanced chemical pest management in the evolution of fungus farming in ants

dc.contributor.authorFernandez-Marin, Hermogenes
dc.contributor.authorZimmerman, Jess K.
dc.contributor.authorNash, David R.
dc.contributor.authorBoomsma, Jacobus J. Koos
dc.contributor.authorWcislo, William T.
dc.date.accessioned2011-04-21T16:39:08Z
dc.date.available2011-04-21T16:39:08Z
dc.date.issued2009
dc.description.abstractTo combat disease, most fungus-growing ants (Attini) use antibiotics from mutualistic bacteria () that are cultured on the ants' exoskeletons and chemical cocktails from exocrine glands, especially the metapleural glands (MG). Previous work has hypothesized that (i) antibiotics are narrow-spectrum and control a fungus () that parasitizes the ants' fungal symbiont, and (ii) MG secretions have broad-spectrum activity and protect ants and brood. We assessed the relative importance of these lines of defence, and their activity spectra, by scoring abundance of visible for nine species from five genera and measuring rates of MG grooming after challenging ants with disease agents of differing virulence. and have lost or greatly reduced the abundance of visible bacteria. When challenged with diverse disease agents, including , they significantly increased MG grooming rates and expanded the range of targets. By contrast, species of and maintain abundant When challenged, these species had lower MG grooming rates, targeted primarily to brood. More elaborate MG defences and reduced reliance on mutualistic are correlated with larger colony size among attine genera, raising questions about the efficacy of managing disease in large societies with chemical cocktails versus bacterial antimicrobial metabolites.
dc.format.extent2263–2269
dc.identifier0962-8452
dc.identifier.citationFernandez-Marin, Hermogenes, Zimmerman, Jess K., Nash, David R., Boomsma, Jacobus J. Koos, and Wcislo, William T. 2009. "<a href="https://repository.si.edu/handle/10088/15894">Reduced biological control and enhanced chemical pest management in the evolution of fungus farming in ants</a>." <em>Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences</em>, 276, (1665) 2263–2269. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2009.0184">https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2009.0184</a>.
dc.identifier.issn0962-8452
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/10088/15894
dc.relation.ispartofProceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences 276 (1665)
dc.titleReduced biological control and enhanced chemical pest management in the evolution of fungus farming in ants
dc.typearticle
sro.description.unitNH-EOL
sro.description.unitSTRI
sro.identifier.doi10.1098/rspb.2009.0184
sro.identifier.itemID78962
sro.identifier.refworksID13014
sro.identifier.urlhttps://repository.si.edu/handle/10088/15894

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