X-ray computed tomography reveals that intraspecific competition promotes soldier differentiation in a one-piece nesting termite

Result code in IS VaVaI

<a href="https://www.isvavai.cz/riv?ss=detail&h=RIV%2F60460709%3A41320%2F17%3AN0000105" target="_blank" >RIV/60460709:41320/17:N0000105 - isvavai.cz</a>

Result on the web

<a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/eea.12557" target="_blank" >https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/eea.12557</a>

DOI - Digital Object Identifier

<a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/eea.12557" target="_blank" >10.1111/eea.12557</a>

Result language

angličtina

Original language name

X-ray computed tomography reveals that intraspecific competition promotes soldier differentiation in a one-piece nesting termite

Original language description

Investment in soldier production in eusocial lineages involves a trade-off between maintenance costs and defense benefits. Termites are eusocial insects that live in colonies organized into three castes: primary reproductives, soldiers, and workers or pseudergates. Neotermes chilensis (Blanchard) (Isoptera: Kalotermitidae) is a one-piece nesting termite that nests and forages in a single piece of wood. Two scenarios may be of importance in a defense context of one-piece nesting termites: during swarms, when colonies may be invaded by winged termites (alates) in search of a place to found a new colony, and when colonies of conspecifics are present within the same substrate. It was hypothesized that the ratio of soldiers to non-soldiers would be higher at the onset of the swarming period and in substrates bearing more than one termite colony. A method based on X-ray computed tomography (CT) was developed to study gallery connectivity in colonies of N. chilensis and caste composition within colonies. Computed tomography allowed the digital reconstruction of the galleries within the substrate, even when they belonged to different colonies, and was effective in distinguishing termites from substrate, and soldiers from reproductives and pseudergates. Using CT, the ratio of soldiers to non-soldiers was shown to be highest in colonies within multicolonial scapes (i.e., neighboring colonies were present in the same substrate) during the swarming season, thus supporting our initial hypotheses. These results constitute a unique example of induced defenses arising from intraspecific interactions in termites.

Czech name

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Czech description

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Type

J_imp - Article in a specialist periodical, which is included in the Web of Science database

CEP classification

—

OECD FORD branch

10616 - Entomology

Project

—

Continuities

S - Specificky vyzkum na vysokych skolach

Publication year

2017

Confidentiality

S - Úplné a pravdivé údaje o projektu nepodléhají ochraně podle zvláštních právních předpisů

Name of the periodical

ENTOMOLOGIA EXPERIMENTALIS ET APPLICATA

ISSN

0013-8703

e-ISSN

1570-7458

Volume of the periodical

163

Issue of the periodical within the volume

1

Country of publishing house

US - UNITED STATES

Number of pages

9

Pages from-to

26-34

UT code for WoS article

000400387600003

EID of the result in the Scopus database

2-s2.0-85017272587