Colony‐age‐dependent variation in cuticular hydrocarbon profiles in subterranean termite colonies
| العنوان: | Colony‐age‐dependent variation in cuticular hydrocarbon profiles in subterranean termite colonies |
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| المؤلفون: | Johnalyn M. Gordon, Jan Šobotník, Thomas Chouvenc |
| المصدر: | Ecology and Evolution Ecology and Evolution, Vol 10, Iss 18, Pp 10095-10104 (2020) |
| بيانات النشر: | John Wiley and Sons Inc., 2020. |
| سنة النشر: | 2020 |
| مصطلحات موضوعية: | 0106 biological sciences, Change over time, Demographics, Zoology, Coptotermes gestroi, Age dependent, Biology, 010603 evolutionary biology, 01 natural sciences, 03 medical and health sciences, lcsh:QH540-549.5, colony fusion, Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics, 030304 developmental biology, Nature and Landscape Conservation, Original Research, 0303 health sciences, social insects, Ecology, chemical ecology, biology.organism_classification, Chemical ecology, Instar, lcsh:Ecology, recognition, Desiccation, Merge (version control) |
| الوصف: | Cuticular hydrocarbons (CHCs) have, in insects, important physiological and ecological functions, such as protection against desiccation and as semiochemicals in social taxa, including termites. CHCs are, in termites, known to vary qualitatively and/or quantitatively among species, populations, castes, or seasons. Changes to hydrocarbon profile composition have been linked to varying degrees of aggression between termite colonies, although the variability of results among studies suggests that additional factors might have been involved. One source of such variability may be colony age, as termite colony demographics significantly change over time, with different caste and instar compositions throughout the life of the colony. We here hypothesize that the intracolonial chemical profile heterogeneity would be high in incipient termite colonies but would homogenize over time as a colony ages and accumulates older workers in improved homeostatic conditions. We studied caste‐specific patterns of CHC profiles in Coptotermes gestroi colonies of four different age classes (6, 18, 30, and 42 months). The CHC profiles were variable among castes in the youngest colonies, but progressively converged toward a colony‐wide homogenized chemical profile. Young colonies had a less‐defined CHC identity, which implies a potentially high acceptance threshold for non‐nestmates conspecifics in young colonies. Our results also suggest that there was no selective pressure for an early‐defined colony CHC profile to evolve in termites, potentially allowing an incipient colony to merge nonagonistically with another conspecific incipient colony, with both colonies indirectly and passively avoiding mutual destruction as a result. Cuticular hydrocarbons play an important role in terms of nestmate recognition in eusocial insect taxa, including termites. The blend of these compounds is variable among castes in young termite colonies, but gradually convergences on a similar hydrocarbon blend in older colonies. Early heterogeneity in chemical profile and a subsequent inability to detect non‐nestmates may have explained previously observed ready fusion of incipient colonies. |
| اللغة: | English |
| تدمد: | 2045-7758 |
| الوصول الحر: | https://explore.openaire.eu/search/publication?articleId=doi_dedup___::6e365983648e3607f04716d3317498eeTest http://europepmc.org/articles/PMC7520186Test |
| حقوق: | OPEN |
| رقم الانضمام: | edsair.doi.dedup.....6e365983648e3607f04716d3317498ee |
| قاعدة البيانات: | OpenAIRE |
| تدمد: | 20457758 |
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