Behavioral mechanisms and morphological symptoms of zombie ants dying from fungal infection
Publikation: Bidrag til tidsskrift › Tidsskriftartikel › Forskning › fagfællebedømt
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Behavioral mechanisms and morphological symptoms of zombie ants dying from fungal infection. / Hughes, David P; Andersen, Sandra B; Hywel-Jones, Nigel L; Himaman, Winanda; Billen, Johan; Boomsma, Jacobus J.
I: B M C Ecology, Bind 11, Nr. 13, 2011, s. 13.Publikation: Bidrag til tidsskrift › Tidsskriftartikel › Forskning › fagfællebedømt
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TY - JOUR
T1 - Behavioral mechanisms and morphological symptoms of zombie ants dying from fungal infection
AU - Hughes, David P
AU - Andersen, Sandra B
AU - Hywel-Jones, Nigel L
AU - Himaman, Winanda
AU - Billen, Johan
AU - Boomsma, Jacobus J
PY - 2011
Y1 - 2011
N2 - Parasites that manipulate host behavior can provide prominent examples of extended phenotypes: parasite genomes controlling host behavior. Here we focus on one of the most dramatic examples of behavioral manipulation, the death grip of ants infected by Ophiocordyceps fungi. We studied the interaction between O. unilateralis s.l. and its host ant Camponotus leonardi in a Thai rainforest, where infected ants descend from their canopy nests down to understory vegetation to bite into abaxial leaf veins before dying. Host mortality is concentrated in patches (graveyards) where ants die on sapling leaves ca. 25 cm above the soil surface where conditions for parasite development are optimal. Here we address whether the sequence of ant behaviors leading to the final death grip can also be interpreted as parasite adaptations and describe some of the morphological changes inside the heads of infected workers that mediate the expression of the death grip phenotype.
AB - Parasites that manipulate host behavior can provide prominent examples of extended phenotypes: parasite genomes controlling host behavior. Here we focus on one of the most dramatic examples of behavioral manipulation, the death grip of ants infected by Ophiocordyceps fungi. We studied the interaction between O. unilateralis s.l. and its host ant Camponotus leonardi in a Thai rainforest, where infected ants descend from their canopy nests down to understory vegetation to bite into abaxial leaf veins before dying. Host mortality is concentrated in patches (graveyards) where ants die on sapling leaves ca. 25 cm above the soil surface where conditions for parasite development are optimal. Here we address whether the sequence of ant behaviors leading to the final death grip can also be interpreted as parasite adaptations and describe some of the morphological changes inside the heads of infected workers that mediate the expression of the death grip phenotype.
KW - Animals
KW - Ants
KW - Behavior, Animal
KW - Host-Parasite Interactions
KW - Hypocreales
KW - Mycoses
KW - Thailand
U2 - 10.1186/1472-6785-11-13
DO - 10.1186/1472-6785-11-13
M3 - Journal article
C2 - 21554670
VL - 11
SP - 13
JO - BMC Ecology
JF - BMC Ecology
SN - 1472-6785
IS - 13
ER -
ID: 40349916