シロアリの営巣戦略は個々の働きアリの移動を反映する

Termite nests widely vary in size and complexity across species. While nest structure reflects the social organisation of termite colonies, its impact on individual-level behaviour is unknown. Here, we show that termite worker movements are strongly correlated with their nesting strategies. We compared one-piece nesters, whose colony life cycle is completed within a single piece of wood serving as nest and food, to foragers, which make colonies exploiting resources spanning several wood items. Our observations of worker movements revealed that one-piece nesters moved significantly less than foragers. The distributions of movement duration were also different, with foragers showing a tendency to sustain locomotion once initiated, while the locomotion of one-piece nesters stopped within a short period. On the contrary, the distributions of pausing duration were broadly consistent across species, with a notable exception in C. formosanus. Spatial analyses further showed that foragers exhibited stronger wall-following behavior and traversed the arena center more straightly than one-piece nesters. Thus, nesting strategies are reflected not only in movement activities but also in the spatial exploration of novel environments. These findings provide a new framework for understanding how nesting strategies drive the evolution of movement patterns across social species.