Data from: Ground warming boosts cooperative food transport in a temperate ant species

Understanding the effects of global warming on collective behaviours is
crucial, as these traits are prevalent among social animals that play key
ecological roles. A direct and overlooked consequence of global warming is
rising ground temperatures, which can influence collective behaviours by
altering social animals' coordination, physiology, and communication.
Ants, being highly sensitive to temperature fluctuations and reliant on
collective tasks, serve as an ideal model to examine the effects of ground
warming on collective behaviours such as cooperative transport (CT)—the
coordinated effort to move large objects. We used an innovative, portable
warming device to test the CT performance of Dorymyrmex tener, an
ecologically relevant ant species from the Patagonian steppe, Argentina.
Ground warming enhanced CT success, accuracy, and efficiency, primarily
driven by physiological responses to elevated temperatures. Notably, most
CT metrics in this temperate ant species remained at peak levels even
under extreme warming conditions, suggesting high resilience to warming
and potential buffering against thermal stress. However, extreme warming
slightly reduced CT success, indicating the limits of this resilience.
These results provide novel insights into how social animals may cope with
global warming, emphasizing the importance of incorporating collective
behavioural responses into ecological predictions under changing climatic
conditions.