Within territory abundance of red wood ants Formica rufa is associated with the body condition of nestlings in the Eurasian treecreeper Certhia familiaris
Studies on individual reproductive success in relation to interspecific competition between distantly related taxa are scarce. We studied whether the abundance of red wood ants Formica rufa -group is related to the breeding habitat selection, fecundity and offspring quality in the Eurasian treecreeper Certhia familiaris, an old-growth forest passerine. The nest-box occupancy data were gathered over a five-year study period, whereas the breeding performance analyses were based on a two-year data set. The abundance of wood ants, measured within 50 m around the nest-boxes, was not related to nest-box occupancy rate, fecundity or the physiological stress of nestlings. In contrast, the abundance…
Intra- and Trans-Generational Phenotypic Responses of the Greater Wax Moth, Galleria mellonella, to a Low-Nutrition Larval Diet
We investigated the intra- and trans-generational effects of larval diet on immune function, body size and development time of the greater wax moth, Galleria mellonella (Lepidoptera: Pyralidae). We found that moths reared on a diet diluted with cellulose (a low-nutrition diet) were about one-third smaller, had about one-fifth longer development time and exhibited about 10% stronger encapsulation responses as compared with moths reared on the standard diet. The low-nutrition parental diet prolonged the development time of male offspring that were fed the low-nutrition diet by about 4% and the development time of female offspring that were fed the standard diet by about 1%. However, females t…
Heavy metal pollution disturbs immune response in wild ant populations
Concern about the effects of environmental contaminants on immune function in both humans and wildlife is growing and practically nothing is known about this impact on terrestrial invertebrates, even though they are known to easily accumulate pollutants. We studied the effect of industrial heavy metal contamination on immune defense of a free-living wood ant (Formica aquilonia). To find out whether ants show an adapted immune function in a polluted environment, we compared encapsulation responses between local and translocated colonies. Local colonies showed higher heavy metal levels than the translocated ones but the encapsulation response was similar between the two groups, indicating tha…
Independent and interactive effects of immune activation and larval diet on adult immune function, growth and development in the greater wax moth (Galleria mellonella )
Organisms in the wild are likely to face multiple immune challenges as well as additional ecological stressors, yet their interactive effects on immune function are poorly understood. Insects are found to respond to cues of increased infection risk by enhancing their immune capacity. However, such adaptive plasticity in immune function may be limited by physiological and environmental constraints. Here, we investigated the effects of two environmental stressors - poor larval diet and an artificial parasite-like immune challenge at the pupal stage - on adult immune function, growth and development in the greater wax moth (Galleria mellonella). Males whose immune system was activated with an …
Data from: Independent and interactive effects of immune activation and larval diet on adult immune function, growth and development in the greater wax moth (Galleria mellonella)
Organisms in the wild are likely to face multiple immune challenges as well as additional ecological stressors, yet their interactive effects on immune function are poorly understood. Insects are found to respond to cues of increased infection risk by enhancing their immune capacity. However, such adaptive plasticity in immune function may be limited by physiological and environmental constraints. Here, we investigated the effects of two environmental stressors – poor larval diet and an artificial parasite-like immune challenge at the pupal stage – on adult immune function, growth and development in the greater wax moth (Galleria mellonella). Males whose immune system was activated with an …
Wood ant nest mounds as biodiversity hotspots: Case studies with oribatid mites
The red wood ant (Formica) nest mounds form in forest landscape diversity hotspots by hosting large amount of invertebrate ant associates. The most numerous associate group, the soil-dwelling oribatid mites, have however remained rather unstudied due to their minute size and lack of taxonomic experts. Few studies conducted in Finland have recently lighted up the oribatid’s diversity in ant mounds. First, our study based on 10,600 specimens and 74 identified species, showed that the wood ant F. polyctena nest mounds were inhabited by an equally abundant and diverse oribatid fauna as the surrounding soil. Moreover, the results revealed that predominantly different species inhabited these two …