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A New Approach that Eliminates Handling for Studying Aggression and the "Loser" Effect in Drosophila melanogaster

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Experience influences aggressive behaviour in the Argentine ant.

Ellen Van Wilgenburg¹, Johanna Clémencet, Neil D Tsutsui

¹Department of Environmental Science, Policy and Management, University of California-Berkeley, CA 94720, USA. ellenvw@nature.berkeley.edu

Biology Letters

|October 2, 2009

Summary

Even brief encounters with rivals increase aggression in Argentine ants. This experience lowers their aggression threshold, making them more likely to fight strangers for up to a week.

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Area of Science:

Animal behavior
Social insects
Ethology

Background:

Animal interactions, particularly aggression, are common.
Understanding how prior experiences shape future behavior is a key challenge.
Previous winning experiences are known to increase future aggression.

Purpose of the Study:

To investigate if mere exposure to an opponent, without a fight, influences future aggression in Argentine ants (Linepithema humile).
To determine the duration and specificity of this effect on aggression.
To explore the influence of age on aggression towards non-colony members.

Main Methods:

Laboratory behavioral assays were used to observe Argentine ant worker interactions.
Ants were exposed to non-colony opponents, with encounters varying in intensity.
Subsequent aggressive behaviors and responses to novel opponents were recorded.

Main Results:

Mere exposure to a non-colony opponent, even without a fight, increased subsequent aggression.
This effect persisted for up to a week, lowering the overall aggression threshold.
Aggression increased with age, and encounters generalized responses to new foreign colonies.

Conclusions:

Non-lethal interactions significantly impact future aggressive behavior in Argentine ants.
Experience, not just winning, primes ants for future conflict, broadening their defensive range.
Age is a factor in the propensity for inter-colony aggression.