Study
The life of a dead ant: the expression of an adaptive extended phenotype
Andersen, Sandra B.; Gerritsma, Sylvia; Yusah, Kalsum M.; Mayntz, David; Hywel-Jones, Nigel L.; Billen, Johan; Boomsma, Jacobus J.; Hughes, David P.
The American Naturalist, 2009
Recorded where infected ants died in the forest, then moved dying and dead ants to different heights, orientations and microclimates, and measured whether the fungus completed development and produced spores.
- Studied in
- Camponotus leonardi, Ophiocordyceps unilateralis
- Sample size
- infected ants transplanted to different heights and orientations
Ants died in a narrow band of height, orientation and microclimate. Ants moved outside that band produced fewer or no spores — the fungus frequently failed to develop where the ant had not chosen to die.
What it means
The authors' reading, and ours. Where they differ, that difference is the point.
How the authors put it
The manipulated death site is adaptive for the fungus, matching the microclimate its development requires, and constitutes an extended phenotype rather than an incidental consequence of illness.
How NatureHQ reads it
The transplant is what makes this evidence rather than a story. A sick animal wandering and dying somewhere would produce a pattern; moving the ants and watching the fungus fail shows the location matters and that the specificity is doing work for the parasite.
- One system in one forest, and transplantation is itself a disturbance.
- Shows the site is favourable for the fungus without establishing how the ant is directed there.
Moving the ant the fungus placed
Infected ants die at a consistent height, orientation and time of day. Is that precision doing anything for the fungus, or is it incidental?
What this study is used for on NatureHQ
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