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<p>Ant colonies often encounter unfamiliar environments, where workers must balance information gain with energetic and risk-related costs. We tested how worker body size relates to novelty-response behaviors in foragers of the polymorphic ant <i>Camponotus japonicus</i>. Minor, media, and major foragers were assayed separately in a round arena and filmed for 1-h to quantify exploration, aggregation, and inactivity, as well as the effect of inactive ants on local cluster dynamics. Exploratory activity declined over time but did not differ among size classes. In contrast, aggregation was size-dependent: larger foragers aggregated more and formed larger clusters than smaller foragers, and aggregation increased during later acclimation phases, while the timing of aggregation did not vary across size classes. Inactivity levels and the spatial distribution of inactive ants were broadly similar among size classes, although overall inactivity increased over time. Notably, the presence of an inactive ant within a cluster consistently reduced the movement speed of other cluster members across all size classes. Together, these results show that size-related variation in <i>C. japonicus</i> foragers is expressed most strongly in aggregation, while inactivity may contribute to stabilizing local group structure during acclimation to unfamiliar space.</p>

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Novelty-response behavior and size relationships in Camponotus japonicus foragers

  • 期刊论文

  • 发表日期：

    2026年4月18日

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  • Hyein Jo,
  • Woncheol Song,
  • Piotr G. Jablonski,
  • Sang‑im Lee

摘要

Ant colonies often encounter unfamiliar environments, where workers must balance information gain with energetic and risk-related costs. We tested how worker body size relates to novelty-response behaviors in foragers of the polymorphic ant Camponotus japonicus. Minor, media, and major foragers were assayed separately in a round arena and filmed for 1-h to quantify exploration, aggregation, and inactivity, as well as the effect of inactive ants on local cluster dynamics. Exploratory activity declined over time but did not differ among size classes. In contrast, aggregation was size-dependent: larger foragers aggregated more and formed larger clusters than smaller foragers, and aggregation increased during later acclimation phases, while the timing of aggregation did not vary across size classes. Inactivity levels and the spatial distribution of inactive ants were broadly similar among size classes, although overall inactivity increased over time. Notably, the presence of an inactive ant within a cluster consistently reduced the movement speed of other cluster members across all size classes. Together, these results show that size-related variation in C. japonicus foragers is expressed most strongly in aggregation, while inactivity may contribute to stabilizing local group structure during acclimation to unfamiliar space.