Soil moisture and excavation behaviour in the Chaco leaf-cutting ant (Atta vollenweideri): digging performance and prevention of water inflow into the nest.

The Chaco leaf-cutting ant Atta vollenweideri is native to the clay-heavy soils of the Gran Chaco region in South America. Because of seasonal floods, colonies are regularly exposed to varying moisture across the soil profile, a factor that not only strongly influences workers' digging performa...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Steffen Pielström, Flavio Roces
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Public Library of Science (PLoS) 2014-01-01
Series:PLoS ONE
Online Access:http://europepmc.org/articles/PMC3991694?pdf=render