Be meek or be bold? A colony-level behavioural syndrome in ants.

ABSTRACT: Consistent individual variation in animal behaviour is nearly ubiquitous and has important ecological and evolutionary implications. Additionally, suites of behavioural traits are often correlated, forming behavioural syndromes in both humans and other species. Such syndromes are often described by testing for variation in traits across commonly described dimensions (e.g. aggression and neophobia), independent of whether this variation is ecologically relevant to the focal species. Here, we use a variety of ecologically relevant behavioural traits to test for a colony-level behavioural syndrome in rock ants (Temnothorax rugatulus). Specifically, we combine field and laboratory assays to measure foraging effort, how colonies respond to different types of resources, activity level, response

SUBMITTER: Bengston SE 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4132670 | biostudies-literature | 2014 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature