Sagehen Creek Field Station

20 Aug, 04 AM - 20 Aug, 09 AM

The slave-making ant, Polyergus breviceps, is an obligate social parasite that relies completely on the behavior of its host, Formica spp., to carry out tasks such as foraging for food, taking care of the brood, and maintaining the nest. My research at Sagehen Creek Reserve will focus on the behavior, chemical ecology and population genetics of Polyergus breviceps and their hosts, Formica as part of my dissertation thesis. There are three species of Formica that Polyergus breviceps enslaves at Sagehen: F. fusca, F. argentea and, more rarely, F. neorufibarbis. One of the questions I?m interested in answering is whether Polyergus in Sagehen, enslaving different hosts, are genetically and chemically distinct from one another. In other words I am interested in answering the question: is there evidence of host specificity with regard to genetics and ecology of Polyergus? For this trip, scheduled 8/20/08, I plan to collect colony fragments representing the two most commonly enslaved hosts: F. fusca and F. argentea (so two colony fragments in all). This will require disturbing nests only to collect enough individuals to have a sustainable colony in the lab (about 50+individuals). Thus far, there are no published records on the chemical profiles for both of these hosts or their slave-makers. For chemical analysis in a lab setting, these individuals must be brought back alive. Also, I plan to collect preliminary behavioral data from the two different Formica hosts. To do this, I will perform behavioral assays in my lab between individuals from each collected colony fragment to look for presence or absence of aggression. Previous behavioral observations between F. fusca workers from different colonies at Sagehen revealed no aggression between workers. However, Formica from different species have been shown to recognize one another and, thus display aggression. If aggression is not witness, this may be an indicator that the recognition abilities or behavioral response of Formica towards non-colonymates have been altered due to their enslavement by Polyergus.

Visit #16042 @Sagehen Creek Field Station

Approved

Under Project # 8664 | Research

Population genetics and co-evolution of Polyergus breviceps and its host Formica spp.

graduate_student - University of California, Berkeley

Reservation Members(s)

Candice Torres Aug 20, 2008 (1 days)
Candice Torres Aug 20, 2008 (1 days)

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Classroom 2 Aug 20 (5 hours)
Day Use 2 Aug 20 (5 hours)
Lab / Classroom 2 Aug 20 (5 hours)