Task partitioning, division of labour and nest compartmentalisation collectively isolate hazardous waste in the leafcutting ant Atta cephalotes

By A. Hart, Francis L. W. Ratnieks. Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology, 2001

174 citations recorded by the source corpus.

Abstract. We studied the organisation of garbage disposal and management in the leafcutting ant Atta cephalotes. The nest of this species has an internal garbage heap to which waste from the fungus garden is taken. The transport of waste from the fungus gardens to the garbage heaps is an example of task partitioning. Ninety-four percent of the garbage loads transferred from the fungus garden to the garbage heap were transferred indirectly via a caching site just outside the garbage heap entrance. A further 3% were transferred directly from a fungus garden worker to a garbage heap worker, again just outside the heap entrance. Only 3% were taken directly to the garbage heap without task partitioning. This is the first described example of task partitioning in insect societies for work other than foraging and the first example of task partitioning occurring entirely within the nest. Furthermore, there is a strong division of labour between the fungus garden workers and the garbage heap workers, with garbage workers hardly ever leaving the heap. Division of labour is reinforced by aggressive behaviour directed towards workers contaminated with garbage. This pattern of work organisation minimises contact between garbage heap workers, who are probably contaminated with pathogens hazardous to both the ants and their symbiotic fungus, and both fungus garden workers and the fungus garden. Task partitioning, division of labour (reinforced by aggression) and nest compartmentalisation act synergistically to isolate the hazardous garbage heap from the fungus gardens.

Subfields: Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics, Genetics, Insect Science

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/da2135ce88873383b2fe5b55ff05eefb3f4a1c9d

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Citations in the corpus

Life expectancy and onset of foraging in the honeybee (Apis mellifera) (2009, background): “Within a nest of leaf cutting ants, Atta cephalotes, workers removing wastes from the fungi gardens are younger than the workers involved in the handling of potentially pathogenic waste material on garbage heaps ( Hart and Ratnieks, 2001 ).”
Life histories and parasite pressure across the major groups of social insects. (2005, background): “Although they evolved for reasons of ergonomic efficiency (Jeanne, 1986; Oster and Wilson, 1978), their joint additional effect is a general reduction in interactions between individuals in a society and thus a reduction in intracolony transmission of diseases (Schmid-Hempel and Schmid-Hempel, 1993;”
Age polyethism in the leaf‐cutting ant Acromyrmex subterraneus brunneus Forel, 1911 (Hym., Formicidae) (2007, background): “Hart and Ratnieks (2001) studied task partitioning in the waste of Atta cephalotes, and observed that increased levels of aggression are directed towards garbage-contaminated workers by nestmates working in the fungus garden.”
Evidence for collective medication in ants (2003, background): “…including antibiotic-producing symbionts (Currie et al. 1999), allogrooming (Rosengaus et al. 1998), antibiotic secretions (Rosengaus et al. 2000; Poulsen et al. 2002), removal of wastes and corpses (Hart & Ratnieks 2001), and immune defences (Moret & Schmid-Hempel 2000; Traniello et al. 2002).”
Variation in immune defence as a question of evolutionary ecology (2003, background): “For example, in social insects, colony organization (Schmid-Hempel 1998; Hart & Ratnieks 2001) and cooperative hygienic behaviour, such as removing fungal spores from nest mates (Rosengaus et al. 1998), reduce the risk of infection.”
Waste management in the leaf-cutting ant Atta colombica (2002, background): “…(Haines, 1975, 1978; Wheeler, 1907), as pests in agricultural systems (Walter et al., 1938), and as a model system in studies of symbiosis (Herre et al., 1999; North et al., 1997) and work organization (Wilson, 1980a,b, 1983a,b; Wetterer, 1999), waste management has received little…”