Tropical Ecology and Conservation [Monteverde Institute]

Alternative Title

Efectividad en limpiar hojas de la casta mínima de la hormiga cortadora de hojas (Atta cephalotes)

Creator

Tori Braun

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Publication Date

December 2016

Abstract

Leafcutter ants have been practicing agriculture longer than humans themselves. Leafcutter ant species, Atta cephalotes, common to Central and South America, cultivate a unique fungus, Leucocoprinus gonogylophora, that sustains the lives of millions of leafcutter ants within a single colony. In order to be efficient farmers, A. cephalotes have developed a caste system consisting of a queen, soldiers, workers, and minima. Each caste has a specific role within the colony, however, the role of the minima is still highly debated among scientists. It is hypothesized that the minima clean the surface of the leaves collected from nearby plants on the trail from the plant source to the entrance of the colony. Using two different methods, the cleanliness of the leaves at the leaf source and the entrance to the colony were observed. The first method consisted of placing the leaf sample onto an agar plate, while the second method consisted of swabbing the leaf surface of the samples onto an agar plate and observing whether the samples presented fungal growth or not. Overall, it was shown that there was little difference between leaf cleanliness, as both the leaf source and the colony entrance had 60% of the samples grow fungus, however, other patterns, such as fungal diversity and presence of mites were observed and analyzed. On average, there was a higher diversity of fungi at the leaf source compared to the entrance of the colony which may suggest that the minima may only be cleaning for certain types of fungi. A presence of mites found exclusively on samples taken from the leaf source could suggest that minima also clean off pests from the leaves. These results seem to indicate that the role of the minima is crucial to the colony, as they perform multiple unique tasks in order to protect their precious food source.

Resumen

Las hormigas cortadoras de hojas han estado practicando agricultura inclusive por más tiempo que los seres humanos. La especie Atta cephalotes, nativa de Centro y Suramérica, cultiva al hongo Leucocoprinus gonogylophora, el cual sirve de alimento para millones de hormigas dentro de una misma colonia. Para que el cultivo del hongo sea existoso, A. cephalotes ha desarrollado un sistema de castas conformado por una reina, soldados, obreras y mínimas. Cada una de estas castas juega un rol específico dentro de la colonia, sin embargo el papel de las mínimas es motivo de debate en la comunidad científica. Una hipótesis es que estas hormigas limpian la superficie de las hojas colectadas a lo largo del camino entre la planta y la entrada de la colonia. Utilizando dos métodos, determiné la presencia de hongos en hojas recién cortadas de la planta y hojas antes de ingresar a la colonia. El primer método consistió en poner la hoja sobre una placa de agar, y el segundo en frotar la superficie de la hoja sobre la placa de agar. Posteriormente determiné la presencia o ausencia de crecimiento de hongos y el número de morfoespecies de los mismos. Se encontró poca diferencia en cuanto al crecimiento de hongos en muestras provenientes de la planta y muestras provenientes de la entrada de la colonia. Ambos grupos presentaron crecimiento de hongos en un 60% de las muestras, sin embargo las hojas recién cortadas presentaron ligeramente mayor riqueza de especies de hongos, así como la presencia de ácaros. Esto podría indicar que las mínimas solamente limpian las hojas de ciertos hongos que potencialmente puedan llegar a ser perjudiciales para L. gonogylophora. La presencia de ácaros exclusivamente en las hojas recién cortadas sugiere que las mínimas también limpian las hojas de estos organismos. En conjunto, estos resultados parecen indicar que el rol de la mínima es crucial, al realizar múltiples tareas que ayudan a proteger su recurso alimenticio.

Keywords

Leaf-cutting ants, Ants--Behavior, EAP Fall 2016

Palabras claves

Zompopas, Hormigas--Comportamiento, EAP Otoño 2016

Extent

9 pages

Geographic Location

Monteverde (Puntarenas, Costa Rica)

Holding Location

Monteverde Institute

Language

English; Spanish

Media Type

Articles

Format

Digital Only

Identifier

M39-00590

Type

Book

Effectiveness of the minima caste of the Leafcutter Ant (Atta cephalotes) on cleaning harvested leaves, December 2016

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