The Experts below are selected from a list of 4728 Experts worldwide ranked by ideXlab platform
David P Hughes - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.
-
within the fortress a specialized parasite is not discriminated against in a social Insect Society
PLOS ONE, 2018Co-Authors: Emilia Sola Gracia, Charissa De Bekker, Ephraim M Hanks, David P HughesAbstract:Social Insect colonies function cohesively due, in part, to altruistic behaviors performed towards related individuals. These colonies can be affected by parasites in two distinct ways, either at the level of the individual or the entire colony. As such, colonies of social Insects can experience conflict with infected individuals reducing the cohesiveness that typifies them. Parasites of social Insects therefore offer us a framework to study conflicts within social Insect colonies in addition to the traditionally viewed conflicts afforded by groups of low genetic relatedness due to multiple mating for example. In our study, we use the behavior manipulating fungal pathogen, Ophiocordyceps kimflemingiae (= unilateralis) and its host, Camponotus castaneus, to ask if colony members are able to detect infected individuals. Such detection would be optimal for the colony since infected workers die near foraging trails where the fungus develops its external structures and releases spores that infect other colony members. To determine if C. castaneus workers can detect these future threats, we used continuous-time point observations coupled with longer continuous observations to discern any discrimination towards infected individuals. After observing 1,240 hours of video footage we found that infected individuals are not removed from the colony and continuously received food during the course of fungal infection. We also calculated the distances between workers and the nest entrance in a total of 35,691 data points to find infected workers spent more time near the entrance of the nest. Taken together, these results suggest healthy individuals do not detect the parasite inside their nestmates. The colony’s inability to detect infected individuals allows O. kimflemingiae to develop within the colony, while receiving food and protection from natural enemies, which could damage or kill its ant host before the parasite has completed its development.
-
social spatial and temporal organization in a complex Insect Society
Scientific Reports, 2015Co-Authors: Lauren E Quevillon, Ephraim M Hanks, Shweta Bansal, David P HughesAbstract:High-density living is often associated with high disease risk due to density-dependent epidemic spread. Despite being paragons of high-density living, the social Insects have largely decoupled the association with density-dependent epidemics. It is hypothesized that this is accomplished through prophylactic and inducible defenses termed ‘collective immunity’. Here we characterise segregation of carpenter ants that would be most likely to encounter infectious agents (i.e. foragers) using integrated social, spatial, and temporal analyses. Importantly, we do this in the absence of disease to establish baseline colony organization. Behavioural and social network analyses show that active foragers engage in more trophallaxis interactions than their nest worker and queen counterparts and occupy greater area within the nest. When the temporal ordering of social interactions is taken into account, active foragers and inactive foragers are not observed to interact with the queen in ways that could lead to the meaningful transfer of disease. Furthermore, theoretical resource spread analyses show that such temporal segregation does not appear to impact the colony-wide flow of food. This study provides an understanding of a complex Society’s organization in the absence of disease that will serve as a null model for future studies in which disease is explicitly introduced.
Stefano Turillazzi - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.
-
Turillazzi S: From individual to collective immunity: the role of the venom as antimicrobial agent in the Stenogastrinae wasp societies
2020Co-Authors: David Baracchi, Giuseppe Mazza, Stefano TurillazziAbstract:a b s t r a c t Sociality is associated with an increased risk of disease transmission and one of the first defense of the Insect colonies is represented by antimicrobial secretions. In many eusocial hymenopteran species venom glands represent one of the most important source of antimicrobial substances. It is known that in highly eusocial species the venom is spread on both the cuticle of Insects and the comb, thus becoming a component of the so called ''social immunity''. So far, it is never been ascertained whether this phenomenon is also present in more primitively eusocial and incipiently eusocial groups. Using incipiently eusocial hover wasps as model, we demonstrate that venom is present on Insect cuticles and that it strongly acts against microorganisms. By contrast, the nest, regardless of materials, does not represent a ''medium'' where the venom is deposited by wasps in order to act as a social antiseptic weapon. Our findings discussed in an evolutionary perspective indicate that a certain degree of sociality or a sufficient number of individuals in an Insect Society are thresholds to be reached for the rise of complex and efficient forms of collective and social immunity as mechanisms of resistance to diseases
-
from individual to collective immunity the role of the venom as antimicrobial agent in the stenogastrinae wasp societies
Journal of Insect Physiology, 2012Co-Authors: David Baracchi, Giuseppe Mazza, Stefano TurillazziAbstract:Sociality is associated with an increased risk of disease transmission and one of the first defense of the Insect colonies is represented by antimicrobial secretions. In many eusocial hymenopteran species venom glands represent one of the most important source of antimicrobial substances. It is known that in highly eusocial species the venom is spread on both the cuticle of Insects and the comb, thus becoming a component of the so called “social immunity”. So far, it is never been ascertained whether this phenomenon is also present in more primitively eusocial and incipiently eusocial groups. Using incipiently eusocial hover wasps as model, we demonstrate that venom is present on Insect cuticles and that it strongly acts against microorganisms. By contrast, the nest, regardless of materials, does not represent a ‘‘medium” where the venom is deposited by wasps in order to act as a social antiseptic weapon. Our findings discussed in an evolutionary perspective indicate that a certain degree of sociality or a sufficient number of individuals in an Insect Society are thresholds to be reached for the rise of complex and efficient forms of collective and social immunity as mechanisms of resistance to diseases.
Andrew B Barron - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.
-
death of the bee hive understanding the failure of an Insect Society
Current opinion in insect science, 2015Co-Authors: Andrew B BarronAbstract:Since 2007 honey bee colony failure rates overwinter have averaged about 30% across much of North America. In addition, cases of extremely rapid colony failure have been reported, which has been termed colony collapse disorder. Both phenomena result from an increase in the frequency and intensity of chronic diseases and environmental stressors. Colonies are often challenged by multiple stressors, which can interact: for example, pesticides can enhance disease transmission in colonies. Colonies may be particularly vulnerable to sublethal effects of pathogens and pesticides since colony functions are compromised whether a stressor kills workers, or causes them to fail at foraging. Modelling provides a way to understand the processes of colony failure by relating impacts of stressors to colony-level functions.
Gro V Amdam - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.
-
reproductive ground plan may mediate colony level selection effects on individual foraging behavior in honey bees
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 2004Co-Authors: Kari Norberg, Gro V Amdam, Kim M Fondrk, Robert E PageAbstract:The colony-level phenotype of an Insect Society emerges from interactions between large numbers of individuals that may differ considerably in their morphology, physiology, and behavior. The proximate and ultimate mechanisms that allow this complex integrated system to form are not fully known, and understanding the evolution of social life strategies is a major topic in systems biology. In solitary Insects, behavior, sensory tuning, and reproductive physiology are linked. These associations are controlled in part by pleiotropic networks that organize the sequential expression of phases in the reproductive cycle. Here we explore whether similar associations give rise to different behavioral phenotypes in a eusocial worker caste. We document that the pleiotropic genetic network that controls foraging behavior in functionally sterile honey bee workers (Apis mellifera) has a reproductive component. Associations between behavior, physiology, and sensory tuning in workers with different foraging strategies indicate that the underlying genetic architectures were designed to control a reproductive cycle. Genetic circuits that make up the regulatory “ground plan” of a reproductive strategy may provide powerful building blocks for social life. We suggest that exploitation of this ground plan plays a fundamental role in the evolution of social Insect societies.
Ephraim M Hanks - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.
-
within the fortress a specialized parasite is not discriminated against in a social Insect Society
PLOS ONE, 2018Co-Authors: Emilia Sola Gracia, Charissa De Bekker, Ephraim M Hanks, David P HughesAbstract:Social Insect colonies function cohesively due, in part, to altruistic behaviors performed towards related individuals. These colonies can be affected by parasites in two distinct ways, either at the level of the individual or the entire colony. As such, colonies of social Insects can experience conflict with infected individuals reducing the cohesiveness that typifies them. Parasites of social Insects therefore offer us a framework to study conflicts within social Insect colonies in addition to the traditionally viewed conflicts afforded by groups of low genetic relatedness due to multiple mating for example. In our study, we use the behavior manipulating fungal pathogen, Ophiocordyceps kimflemingiae (= unilateralis) and its host, Camponotus castaneus, to ask if colony members are able to detect infected individuals. Such detection would be optimal for the colony since infected workers die near foraging trails where the fungus develops its external structures and releases spores that infect other colony members. To determine if C. castaneus workers can detect these future threats, we used continuous-time point observations coupled with longer continuous observations to discern any discrimination towards infected individuals. After observing 1,240 hours of video footage we found that infected individuals are not removed from the colony and continuously received food during the course of fungal infection. We also calculated the distances between workers and the nest entrance in a total of 35,691 data points to find infected workers spent more time near the entrance of the nest. Taken together, these results suggest healthy individuals do not detect the parasite inside their nestmates. The colony’s inability to detect infected individuals allows O. kimflemingiae to develop within the colony, while receiving food and protection from natural enemies, which could damage or kill its ant host before the parasite has completed its development.
-
social spatial and temporal organization in a complex Insect Society
Scientific Reports, 2015Co-Authors: Lauren E Quevillon, Ephraim M Hanks, Shweta Bansal, David P HughesAbstract:High-density living is often associated with high disease risk due to density-dependent epidemic spread. Despite being paragons of high-density living, the social Insects have largely decoupled the association with density-dependent epidemics. It is hypothesized that this is accomplished through prophylactic and inducible defenses termed ‘collective immunity’. Here we characterise segregation of carpenter ants that would be most likely to encounter infectious agents (i.e. foragers) using integrated social, spatial, and temporal analyses. Importantly, we do this in the absence of disease to establish baseline colony organization. Behavioural and social network analyses show that active foragers engage in more trophallaxis interactions than their nest worker and queen counterparts and occupy greater area within the nest. When the temporal ordering of social interactions is taken into account, active foragers and inactive foragers are not observed to interact with the queen in ways that could lead to the meaningful transfer of disease. Furthermore, theoretical resource spread analyses show that such temporal segregation does not appear to impact the colony-wide flow of food. This study provides an understanding of a complex Society’s organization in the absence of disease that will serve as a null model for future studies in which disease is explicitly introduced.