Meeting Abstract

P1.156  Tuesday, Jan. 4  Ants on the Move MOYANO, M.; University of Utah martin.moyano@utah.edu

Temperature plays a fundamental role in ant societies, as it can have important individual, colony and community-level effects. In this study we aimed to understand the moving behavior of Pheidole dentata colonies to new nest sites and the influence that temperature, and other parameters, play in this behavior. Six plots of 50×50 meters were set, where P. dentata nests were followed for 6 weeks. In each plot nests were marked with a flag. We censused plots weekly to determine if each ant colony was still inhabiting the same nest site or if it had moved to a new one. In total 505 nest sites, belonging to 176 ant colonies, were followed for 6 weeks. The majority of colonies nested in the ground, and most nests had a low percentage of surface cover (~20%). Mean internal nest temperature at 5cm depth was 26.5°C. Our data suggest that colonies might be choosing nesting sites that are cooler than the surrounding areas. And colonies move often, with a mean time of 15.5 days in a nest. We studied the effects of different covariates on two parameters: (1) how the covariates change the probability of a colony moving, using a binomial generalized linear model (GLM); and (2) how the covariates change the duration of a colony at a site, using survival analysis. Models were judged based on Akaike’s information criteria (AIC). The best GLM model contains two covariates; increasing leaf litter depth reduces the chance that a colony will move, and colonies at different plots move at different rates. In the preferred survival analysis model, only plot affects the duration of a colony in a nest. Temperature apparently does not directly affect colony movement; our data suggest that factors affecting moving rate act at a greater scale than the colony.