Present address: Department of Biology, University of St Thomas, St Paul, MN, USA, 55105
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Ant stoichiometry: elemental homeostasis in stage-structured colonies
Article first published online: 10 OCT 2006
DOI: 10.1111/j.1365-2435.2006.01187.x
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How to Cite
KAY, A. D., ROSTAMPOUR, S. and STERNER, R. W. (2006), Ant stoichiometry: elemental homeostasis in stage-structured colonies. Functional Ecology, 20: 1037–1044. doi: 10.1111/j.1365-2435.2006.01187.x
Publication History
- Issue published online: 10 OCT 2006
- Article first published online: 10 OCT 2006
- Received 30 June 2006; accepted 21 July 2006 Editor: Brian McNab
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Keywords:
- carbohydrates;
- growth rate hypothesis;
- nutrient balance;
- phosphorus;
- RNA
Summary
- 1Organisms facing variation in food quality maintain elemental composition within limited bounds. Such stoichiometric homeostasis has often been considered a species-specific parameter, but stoichiometry can also vary intraspecifically across life stages, sexes and sizes. In colonial organisms with overlapping generations, stoichiometric variation among stages could lead to flexibility in colony-level elemental composition due to changes in internal demography.
- 2We examine how the balance of energy (sucrose) and nutrients (prey) affects growth rate and carbon : nitrogen : phosphorus (C : N : P) homeostasis in a eusocial insect, the pavement ant Tetramorium caespitum.
- 3Colony growth depended heavily on prey availability. However, sucrose scarcity led to higher worker mortality and production of smaller workers, suggesting sucrose availability will affect colony-level performance in a competitive environment.
- 4In contrast, C : N : P stoichiometry of larvae, pupae, and workers varied mostly with sucrose availability. Biomass P content within life stages was lower in colonies receiving less access to sucrose. We suggest this difference arose primarily from shifts in individual ant mass coupled with negative P-body mass relationships.
- 5Life stages differed considerably in elemental composition, and resource conditions affected colony stage structure. Nevertheless, variation in colony-level stoichiometry primarily reflected compositional differences within stages rather than shifts in internal demography.