Communication: Recruitment to Resources

Recruitment in social insects refers to explicit signals (as distinct from cues) that increase the number of workers at a particular place, usually leading workers to a resource. Recruitment is usually considered specific or directional, thus distinguishing it from non-specific upregulation of activity which may also result in an increase of workers at a resource. Recruitment is most common to resources such as food or nest sites, but can also take place to newly discovered territories, battle grounds, construction or excavation sites, displaced brood items, or anywhere where there is work to be done [1]. By recruiting to food, social insects can more effectively exploit resources in patchy environments, monopolize resources, and exploit an area much larger than that which a solitary insect can, or exploit food sources too large for an individual worker to handle. This effectively broadens the ecological niche of recruiting species. Recruitment to nest sites allows for cohesive and...