Data from: Intraspecific variation among social insect colonies: persistent regional and colony-level differences in fire ant foraging behavior

Individuals vary within a species in many ecologically important ways, but the causes and consequences of such variation are often poorly understood. Foraging behavior is among the most profitable and risky activities in which organisms engage and is expected to be under strong selection. Among social insects there is evidence that within-colony variation in traits such as foraging behavior can increase colony fitness, but variation between colonies and the potential consequences of such variation are poorly documented. In this study, we tested natural populations of the red imported fire ant, Solenopsis invicta, for the existence of colony and regional variation in foraging behavior and tested the persistence of this variation over time and across foraging habitats. We also reared single-lineage colonies in standardized environments to explore the contribution of colony lineage. Fire ants from natural populations exhibited significant and persistent colony and regional-level variation in foraging behaviors such as extra-nest activity, exploration, and discovery of and recruitment to resources. Moreover, colony-level variation in extra-nest activity was significantly correlated with colony growth, suggesting that this variation has fitness consequences. Lineage of the colony had a significant effect on extra-nest activity and exploratory activity and explained approximately half of the variation observed in foraging behaviors, suggesting a heritable component to colony-level variation in behavior.同一物种内的个体在诸多生态关键性状上存在差异，但此类变异的成因与后果往往尚未得到充分阐释。觅食行为是生物体开展的收益性与风险性兼具的核心活动之一，预期会受到强烈的选择压力。在社会性昆虫中，已有研究证实，觅食行为等性状的巢内变异可提升蚁群适合度，但不同蚁群间的变异及其潜在后果却鲜有系统性记载。本研究以自然种群中的红火蚁（Solenopsis invicta）为研究对象，检验了其觅食行为在蚁群与区域尺度上的变异情况，并探究了该变异随时间推移以及不同觅食生境中的持久性。此外，本研究在标准化环境中培育单谱系蚁群，以解析蚁群谱系对觅食行为的贡献程度。结果显示，来自自然种群的红火蚁，其巢外活动、探索行为、资源发现以及资源招募等觅食行为均呈现出显著且稳定的蚁群与区域尺度变异。进一步分析表明，蚁群层面的巢外活动变异与蚁群生长呈显著相关，提示此类变异会对蚁群适合度产生实际影响。蚁群谱系对巢外活动与探索行为存在显著影响，可解释约半数观测到的觅食行为变异，表明蚁群行为层面的变异存在可遗传组分。