Abstract
Temporal change in colonial labor allocation, age structure, eclosion of workers, and numbers of eggs, larvae, and pupae in colonies of the ponerine ant,Diacamma sp., from Japan was surveyed for more than a year. Fluctuation of brood indicated that temporal variation in eclosion is caused by brood raising, not by cessation of egg supply. Labor allocation patterns at a given moment were related to subsequent colonial productivity by multiple linear regression. Fluctuating eclosion patterns can be predicted from labor allocation patterns extrapolated from their age structure, without considering behavioral flexibility. The predictions agree with observed patterns. This suggests that behavioral flexibility does not fully compensate for the deterioration in productivity caused by the fluctuation in age structure.
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Nakata, K. Does behavioral flexibility compensate or constrain colony productivity? Relationship among age structure, labor allocation, and production of workers in ant colonies. J Insect Behav 9, 557–569 (1996). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02213880
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02213880