The+ant,+Aphaenogaster+picea


 * The ant, //Aphaenogaster picea//**



__Taxonomy__ Kingdom: Animalia Phylum: Arthropoda Class: Insecta Order: Hymenoptera Superfamily: Formicoidea Family: Formicidae Subfamily: Myrmicinae Genus: Aphaenogaster Species: //A. picea//

__Habitat__ -Live in mesic forests along eastern United States -Important seed dispersers: //Aphaenogaster// are primary genus dispersing myrmecochorous plants(Ness, Morin & Giladi, 2009). -Ants receive a protein-rich food source (elaiosome- a flesh structure attached to the seeds of myrmecochorous plants) in return for dispersing plant seeds—this is useful when food sources are scarce -Range from Georgia to Maine ("Aphaenogaster," 2013)



__About //Aphaenogaster//__ - Ants are closely related to bees and wasps -Ants are eusocial insects //-Aphaenogaster// have 2 nodes on petiole—“thread-waisted” ants -How to tell difference between //A. picea// (found in northern parts in range) to //A. rudis// (found in southern parts of range): (1) //A. picea//: the last 4 pedicels/segments of the antennae are lighter in color than the stape (2) //A. rudis//: one color for all pedicels (3) //A. rudis// is slightly lighter in color than //A. picea// ("Genus: Aphaenogaster," 2002) //-Aphaenogaster// are holometabolous- they undergo complete metamorphosis



__Nuptial flight__ -Males much different than their sisters -Queen ant only produces male (unfertilized) eggs during mating season -Males have wings -Only purpose is to spread the colony’s genes -Males and winged, virgin queens from different colonies undergo a nuptial flight, in which queens release pheromones to attract males, but then try to escape the males to ensure they mate with the fittest males -Mating occurs during flight ("Nuptial flight", 2013) -After a queen has mated, she sheds her wings because they have no more use, and she attempts to found a new colony -Queens mate only once in their lifetime and store sperm to fertilize all of the eggs she ever lays -Males are only alive for a short period (they cannot even feed themselves while alive), and after mating they quickly die

__Biology__ -When organisms experience stress, they produce heat shock proteins that function in refolding denatured proteins so they can regain their biological function -When thermally stressed, //A. picea// workers activate a molecular heat shock response involving upregulation of several heat shock proteins (A. Nguyen et al., unpublished data) -Species can respond to climate change through behavioral and physiological means -Heat shock response is an evolutionarily conserved physiological response that confers thermal tolerance when behavioral response is insufficient

__Experimental use__ //-//Heat shock response can be studied in //Aphaenogaster// (Hoffmann et al., 2008). //-Aphaenogaster// are good experimental model for testing thermal tolerance because they span a large latitudinal range and therefore experience different temperature regimes -Many experiments have been done about how climate change affects //Aphaenogaster// (Pelini et al., 2012). -At Harvard Forest: artificially warm chambers to varying temperatures and see how it affects //A. picea// colonies living there -At Duke Forest, the southern counterpart of Harvard Forest, the same experiments are done for //A. rudis// colonies living there -Southern vs. Northern comparisons have been done (Pelini et al., 2011).



[|Helms/ Helms Cahan Ant Lab]
 * Websites to visit:**


 * References:**

Genus: Aphaenogaster. (2002). Retrieved from http://www.antweb.org/description.do?rank=genus&name=aphaenogaster&project=worldants

Hoffmann et al. (2008). Detecting genetic responses to environmental change. //Nature reviews. Genetics//, //9//(6), 421-32.doi:10.1038/nrg2339

Nuptial flight | when flying ants mate in the skies. (2013). Retrieved from http://www.antark.net/ant-life/ant-life-cycle/nuptial-flight.html

Pelini, S. L., Bowles, F. P., Ellison, A. M., Gotelli, N. J., Sanders, N. J., & Dunn, R. R. (2011). Heating up the forest: open-top chamber warming manipulation of arthropod communities at Harvard and Duke Forests. Methods in Ecology and Evolution, 2(5), 534-540. doi:10.1111/j.2041-210X.2011.00100.x

Pelini, S. L., Diamond, S. E., Maclean, H., Ellison, A. M., Gotelli, N. J., Sanders, N. J., & Dunn, R. R. (2012). Common garden experiments reveal uncommon responses across temperatures, locations, and species of ants. North. doi:10.1002/ece3.407

Ness, J. H., Morin, D. F., & Giladi, I. (2009). Uncommon specialization in a mutualism between a temperate herbaceous plant guild and an ant: are Aphaenogaster ants keystone mutualists? Oikos, 118(12), 1793-1804. doi:10.1111/j.1600-0706.2009.17430.x

Figure 1: Wild, A. (Photographer). (2008, January 30). picea2.jpg [Web Photo]. Retrieved from http://www.alexanderwild.com/Ants/Taxonomic-List-of-Ant-Genera/Aphaenogaster/i-SnB8FLn/A
 * Images:**

Figure 2: Wild, A. (Photographer). (2009, June 04). fulva3a.jpg [Web Photo]. Retrieved from http://www.alexanderwild.com/Ants/Taxonomic-List-of-Ant-Genera/Aphaenogaster/i-kbxSWDL/A

Figure 3: Wheeler. (Photographer). Aphaenogaster picea, full face view of worker [Web Photo]. Retrieved from http://mississippientomologicalmuseum.org.msstate.edu/Researchtaxapages/Formicidaepages/genericpages/Aphaenogaster.picea.htm

Figure 4: Enzmann. (Photographer). Aphaenogaster rudis, full face view of worker [Web Photo]. Retrieved from http://mississippientomologicalmuseum.org.msstate.edu/Researchtaxapages/Formicidaepages/genericpages/Aphaenogaster.rudis.htm

Figure 5: Wild, A. (Photographer). picea7s.jpg [Web Photo]. Retrieved from http://www.alexanderwild.com/Ants/Taxonomic-List-of-Ant-Genera/Aphaenogaster/i-65tSXwj/A

Figure 6: Wild, A. (Photographer). (2003, August 28). picea14.jpg [Web Photo]. Retrieved from http://www.alexanderwild.com/Ants/Taxonomic-List-of-Ant-Genera/Aphaenogaster/i-8RKQFsL/A

Figure 7: Wild, A. (Photographer). (2009, July 25). albisetosa11.jpg [Web Photo]. Retrieved from http://www.alexanderwild.com/keyword/aphaenogaster albisetosa/i-vWMMFHs/A

Figure 8: Upregulation of heat shock protein [Web Graphic]. Retrieved from http://exercisephysiologist.wordpress.com/2012/04/17/heat-shock-proteins-form-and-function-quick-review/

Figure 9: Davis, K. (Photographer). (2012, July 05). [Web Photo]. Retrieved from http://harvardforestreu.blogspot.com/2012/07/research-profile-global-climate-change.html

Created by K. Pinder