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Spring colonies of the ant Temnothorax nylanderi tolerate cadmium better than winter colonies, in both a city and a forest habitat

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Abstract

A recent study showed that, in the ant Temnothorax nylanderi, city colonies are more tolerant to cadmium than forest colonies. However, because of annual variation in biological factors (e.g. body size, anti-stress protein production or trace metal accumulation rate), trace metal tolerance may vary over the year. We aimed at testing whether tolerance to cadmium of colonies of T. nylanderi differs between two different seasons within the same year (winter and spring). We also assessed whether the better cadmium tolerance of city colonies was constant over these two different time points. We collected colonies at the end of their hibernation period (winter colonies) and several weeks after (spring colonies) from two different habitats (forest and city) to assess whether response to cadmium was consistent regardless of the environment. We exposed colonies to a cadmium or a control treatment for 61 days. We compared tolerance to cadmium between spring/winter and city/forest colonies by measuring several life history traits. We found that spring colonies tolerates cadmium better than winter colonies, and that city colonies have a higher tolerance to cadmium but only in spring. Although further studies with replicated pairs of city/forest habitats and different years will be necessary to confirm those results, our study suggests that tolerance to trace metals can fluctuate along the yearly cycle.

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Data are provided with the manuscript in the Supplementary Information section.

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Acknowledgements

We thank Romain Péronnet for his help with colony collection.

Funding

This study was funded by the Institute of Ecology and Environmental Science of Paris (Sorbonne University).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Sorbonne Université, UPEC, CNRS, IRD, INRA, Institute of Ecology and Environmental Sciences of Paris, IEES-Paris, F-75005, Paris, France

    L. Jacquier & M. Molet

  2. Institut de Systématique, Evolution, Biodiversité (ISYEB), Muséum national d’Histoire naturelle, CNRS, Sorbonne Université, EPHE, Université des Antilles, 75005, Paris, France

    C. Doums

  3. EPHE, PSL University, 75014, Paris, France

    C. Doums

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  1. L. Jacquier
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  2. C. Doums
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Contributions

LJ designed the study, collected colonies, reared them, performed the experiments and statistical analyses, and wrote the manuscript. MM co-wrote the manuscript. CD contributed to statistical analyses and co-wrote the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

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Correspondence to L. Jacquier.

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Jacquier, L., Doums, C. & Molet, M. Spring colonies of the ant Temnothorax nylanderi tolerate cadmium better than winter colonies, in both a city and a forest habitat. Ecotoxicology 31, 324–334 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10646-021-02515-1

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