Meeting Abstract
Ants (Hymenoptera: Formicidae), live and behave in functionally integrated social groups that promote the well being of their colony as whole rather than their existence as individuals. Their collective behavior is responsible for the performance of colonies as super-organisms, but relatively little is known about the physiological causes and consequences of these behaviors. By studying the respiratory characteristics of individual ants and whole colonies, we aimed to identify distinct metabolic signatures of eusociality. To measure the ventilation and metabolic dynamics of acorn ants (Temnothorax curvispinosus), we conducted flow-through respirometry to detect real-time changes in the concentrations of oxygen and carbon dioxide induced by the metabolism of whole colonies. We tested the hypothesis that whole colonies synchronize individual-level discontinuous gas exchange cycles so that an emergent pattern of cyclic ventilation might be exhibited by colonies. Results from our study are presented including the characteristic amplitude, wavelength, and power spectra of ventilatory gas exchange time series data.
