Event: Drexel University College of Medicine Discovery Day
Date: October 3rd, 2013
Type: Poster
Title: Slavemakers: The Comparative Neurobiology of Free and Enslaved Worker Ants
Abstract:
Ants are social insects with thousands of species worldwide. Some ants establish complex symbiotic relationships with other ant species, such as the unique behavior of slavemaking. This study focuses on the socially parasitic slavemaster behavior of ant species, Formica fusca and Polyergus. Polyergus ants, the “slavemakers”, depend on enslaved F. fusca ants, which they steal as unhatched pupae from their parent colonies and raise as workers in their own colony. We predict that Polyergus brain functions have diminished because they have become so dependent on their slaves. This result suggests that slaves are actually “smarter” than their Polyergus masters. Yet not all F. fusca individuals are slaves, and differences in slave status may be reflected in sensory brain investment. By using sectioning and imaging methods, we quantified brain volumes of free and enslaved F. fusca. By comparing the brain volumes of the optic and antennal sensory regions, we determined to what extent slave or free individuals were visually or chemically oriented. Little is known about these ant species and these results may lead to further insight into their social behavior.
Date: October 3rd, 2013
Type: Poster
Title: Slavemakers: The Comparative Neurobiology of Free and Enslaved Worker Ants
Abstract:
Ants are social insects with thousands of species worldwide. Some ants establish complex symbiotic relationships with other ant species, such as the unique behavior of slavemaking. This study focuses on the socially parasitic slavemaster behavior of ant species, Formica fusca and Polyergus. Polyergus ants, the “slavemakers”, depend on enslaved F. fusca ants, which they steal as unhatched pupae from their parent colonies and raise as workers in their own colony. We predict that Polyergus brain functions have diminished because they have become so dependent on their slaves. This result suggests that slaves are actually “smarter” than their Polyergus masters. Yet not all F. fusca individuals are slaves, and differences in slave status may be reflected in sensory brain investment. By using sectioning and imaging methods, we quantified brain volumes of free and enslaved F. fusca. By comparing the brain volumes of the optic and antennal sensory regions, we determined to what extent slave or free individuals were visually or chemically oriented. Little is known about these ant species and these results may lead to further insight into their social behavior.