Seleção de recursos alimentares em um cupim Nasuto: a importância da informação social e o dilema entre crescimento e sobrevivência da colônia

Abstract

The acquisition of food resources is one of the most important behaviors in the life history of organisms. Despite being a basic and seemingly trivial need, resource selection is not that simple since animals live in heterogeneous environments with unevenly distributed resources, varying in quantity and quality over time. Furthermore, the presence of competing and predatory species can significantly impact the resource use. Therefore, individuals need to efficiently assess the costs and benefits involved in exploring and selecting a resource. To make decisions during resource selection, animals need to acquire information from their environment. This information can be obtained through direct interactions with the environment (i.e., private information) or even by observing other individuals (of the same or different species) and/or its cues left in the environment (i.e., social information). Termites (Blattodea: Isoptera) are detritivores insects that have great economic and ecological importance. However, the factors involved in the selection of resources for these insects are not completely known. So, the objective of dissertation was to analyze the role of social information and the combination of resource quantity and risk signals during resource selection in Nasutitermes corniger (Motschulsky) (Termitidae: Nasutitermitinae). Our results indicate that resource quantity seems to be the determining factor in resource selection in N. corniger. The role of social information and risk signals appears to depend, in part, on the quantity of resource during resource selection. This study contributes with new knowledge about the selection of resources in termites and can help to understand the habitat use by this important group of insects.