title: Keep the nest clean: survival advantages of corpse removal in ants.
abstract: Sociality increases exposure to pathogens. Therefore, social insects have developed a wide range of behavioural defences, known as 'social immunity'. However, the benefits of these behaviours in terms of colony survival have been scarcely investigated. We tested the survival advantage of prophylaxis, i.e. corpse removal, in ants. Over 50 days, we compared the survival of ants in colonies that were free to remove corpses with those that were restricted in their corpse removal. From Day 8 onwards, the survival of adult workers was significantly higher in colonies that were allowed to remove corpses normally. Overall, larvae survived better than adults, but were slightly affected by the presence of corpses in the nest. When removal was restricted, ants removed as many corpses as they could and moved the remaining corpses away from brood, typically to the nest corners. These results show the importance of nest maintenance and prophylactic behaviour in social insects.
authors.affiliation: Unit of Social Ecology, Université Libre de Bruxelles, Bruxelles, Belgium lisediez@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Lise
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Diez
authors.affiliation: Unité de Gestion des Ressources forestières et des Milieux Naturels, Université de Liège, Gembloux, Belgium.
authors.forename: Philippe
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Lejeune
authors.affiliation: Unit of Social Ecology, Université Libre de Bruxelles, Bruxelles, Belgium.
authors.forename: Claire
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Detrain
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001000:Ants / Q000502:physiology*; D001522:Behavior, Animal; D007814:Larva / Q000502:physiology; D009425:Nesting Behavior; D012919:Social Behavior
keywords: Myrmica rubra; necrophoresis; social immunity; survival, ants