Spine and dine: A key defensive trait promotes ecological success in spiny ants

A key focus of ecologists is explaining the origin and maintenance of morphological diversity and its association with ecological success. We investigate potential benefits and costs of a common and varied morphological trait, cuticular spines, for foraging behavior, interspecific competition, and predator-prey interactions in naturally co-occurring spiny ants (Hymenoptera: Formicidae: Polyrhachis) in an experimental setting. We expect that a defensive trait like spines might be associated with more conspicuous foraging, a greater number of workers sent out to forage, and potentially increased competitive ability. Alternatively, consistent with the ecological trade-off hypothesis, we expect that investment in spines for anti-predator defense might be negatively correlated with these other ecological traits. We find little evidence for any costs to ecological traits, instead finding that species with longer spines either outperform or do not differ from species with shorter spines for al...生态学家的核心研究方向之一，是阐释形态多样性的起源与维持机制，及其与生态成功的关联。本研究于受控实验环境下，针对一种常见且形态多样的功能性性状——表皮棘突（cuticular spines），探究其对觅食行为、种间竞争以及捕食者-猎物互作的潜在收益与代价，研究对象为自然同域分布的多刺蚁（膜翅目：蚁科：多刺蚁属）。我们推测，这类防御性棘突性状，或与更为显眼的觅食模式、更多的外出觅食工蚁数量，以及潜在更强的竞争能力存在相关性。而依据生态权衡假说，我们同时推测：为开展反捕食防御而投入的棘突相关资源，可能与上述其他生态性状呈负相关关系。本研究未发现任何生态性状存在代价的相关证据，反而发现，棘突更长的物种在al...相关指标上的表现，要么优于棘突更短的物种，要么与其无显著差异。