Data and code for: a behavioural and microbiological study of wound care in Camponotus floridanus

Open wounds pose a major infection and mortality risk in animals. To reduce these risks, many animal species apply antimicrobial compounds on their wounds. Ant societies use antimicrobial secretions from the metapleural gland to combat pathogens but this gland has been lost over evolutionary time in several genera including Camponotus. Using behavioral and microbiological experiments, we studied how Camponotus floridanus handles infected wounds without the use of antimicrobial secretions. When we experimentally injured a worker’s leg at the femur, nestmates amputated the injured limb by biting the base (trochanter) of the leg until it was severed, thereby significantly increasing survival compared to ants that did not receive amputations. However, when the experimental injury was more distal (at the tibia), nestmates did not amputate the leg and instead directed more wound care to the injury site. Experimental amputations also failed to improve survival in ants with infected tibia injur..., Data includes:
1) Behavioral ethograms
2) Survival data
3) Bacterial qPCR
4) R-Code for analyses of datasets 1-3
5) PDF with R-code on the Bayesian Model in Fig. S1D
6) PDF with R-code for Figures 1-3, , # **Raw Excel Data and Code**

[https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.1rn8pk110](https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.1rn8pk110)

**2020_tracking_floridanus_control_femur.csv**
Behavioural Ethogram Data for Figure 1

-       ID: individual ID of focal ant
-       Trophalaxis: amount of seconds performing trophalaxis
-       Allogrooming amount of seconds focal individual received allogrooming
-       Percent_allo: percentage of 10 min interval in which allogrooming was received
-       Wound_licking: amount of seconds focal individual received wound care
-       Percent_wound: percentage of 10 min interval in which wound care was received
-       Woundlicker: number of ants performing wound care in 10 min interval
-       Amputation: amount of seconds focal individual received amputation behaviour on trochanter
-       Percent_amp: percentage of 10 min interval in which amputation behaviour was received
-       Time_point: 10 min interval of observation
-       Time: time intervals as continous variab...