Contrary to popular belief, the ant's age does not determine its transition from one job to another in the colony, and the process appears to be random, according to a study conducted by a team of biologists at the University of Lausanne.
In the report published in the Swiss newspaper Le Temps, author Mattia Pilonell says that the ecological success of social insects - such as ants - is linked to the very special division of labor within colonies.
Until now, scientists had believed that the ant's age determined its transition from one job to another, but Laurent Keeler, a professor in the Department of Ecology and Evolution at the University of Lausanne and his team discovered that this process is random, as younger ants, called "nannies", remain inside the colony to take care of the queen. And larvae.
As for the older ones, their job is to search for food abroad, and between the two stages there is a transitional stage in which workers occupy the role of nannies at times, and search for food at other times, and this period of the ants' life is what aroused the interest of the team of biologists in Lausanne.
The ecological success of social insects - such as ants - is related to the very special division of labor within colonies (Pixabay).
An ad hoc change of job
The author states that scientists photographed 500 ants from 3 different colonies for a period of 5 months, and the worker ants were provided with a blade that scientists could identify, which allowed to study the behavior of each ant accurately and the interactions between them over time.
The study, which was published in the journal Current Biology, showed that the transition to a foraging job was not related to age.
Every day, the nanny has a 3% chance to start this transition process, which lasts for 3 weeks, and accordingly some ants change their function only a few days after their birth, while others wait for several weeks or even months.
Every day the nanny ant has a 3% chance to start the career transition (pixels).
Social insects
The writer quotes Laurent Keeler explaining that "this discovery contradicts the beliefs that existed until now." For the biologist, this random factor allows more flexibility in dealing with the environment.
"Let us imagine that a colony develops its members according to their ages. During the winter period, the queen lays fewer eggs, and thus the colony will suffer from a shortage of nannies at the end of the winter, but if some ants make these transfers at a later time, the problem will be solved."
The question remains whether the environment influences this lucky factor.
In this regard, Keeler says, "We did some tests, where we removed some of the ants in charge of foraging for food from the colony, to see if the transmission occurred earlier, but that did not change anything."
Scientists seek to understand the molecular process underlying this change in function (pixels).
The Lausanne team plans to continue on this path, testing various conditions, such as lack of food.
Likewise, it will also seek to understand the molecular process underlying this change in function, and researchers believe that this random factor is present in the majority of social insects, such as bees and termites.