Influence of nest architecture on the movement of
workers of the ant Temnothorax
1
rugatulus
Kerri 2Marquardt
Greg Chism , Anna Dornhaus
1
2
Ecology & Evolutionary Biology, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, USA
Graduate Student Interdisciplinary Program in Entomology and Insect Science
kamarquardt@email.arizona.edu
Introduction:
The workers of ant colonies actively invest in the nests
in which they live. The nest provides these social
organisms defense against external factors as well as a
place where they collectively interact, and provide an
optimal place to rear young. The ant Temnothorax
rugatulus build their nests by building walls within rock
crevices. The motivation of this research is to assess
the influence nest architecture has on colony-level
performance, specifically on worker movement rate
within the nest.
Hypotheses:
H1: Nest architecture shape influences how ants move
throughout the nest. Workers won’t be able to move
as freely in some architectures as well as in others.
H0: Nest architecture doesn’t influence how workers
move throughout the nest. Ants utilize their nest
spaces the same.
Predictions:
P1: Nest architectures that are more constricted
will reduce workers movement rate throughout
the nest.
P0: Worker movement rate will be the same within
the nest across different architectures.
1
socialinsectlab.arizona.edu
Methods:
Ant colonies were placed into two different nest
architectures for two weeks. Videos of the colony
inside the nest were taken for 10 minutes every other
day for two weeks and then switched into the other
nest architecture. Individual worker movement rate
was analyzed with the tracking software ABC Tracker.
Ant workers had individual paint marks so that their
movement rates could be compared across
architectures. Two videos of two different colonies in
each nest type were analyzed in each architecture.
Nest types:
Open Constricted
ABC Tracker:
Results:
Differences in worker movement rate across nest
types were analyzed using a Wilcoxon’s paired
sign-rank test.
Conclusions:
Differences in worker movement rate across
architectures could allude to how ant colonies utilize
nest space. Lower worker movement in constricted
nests could mean that restrictions might limit
information flow through the nest.
Acknowledgements: Wiley Faron and Bernd Steklis, Dornhaus Lab; University of
Arizona, UNCC Shin Lab, NSF