Influence of abiotic factors on the foraging activity of Cephalotes borgmeieri (Kempf, 1951)

Abstract

The foraging activity can be defined as the search for food resources and is an activity of utmost importance for ant colony maintenance. Workers can be exposed to adverse environmental conditions during foraging, and because of it, some species can adjust their foraging behavior to achieve greater success in the search for resources. The foraging behavior has been studied in other ant species; however, studies with the Cephalotini tribe are still scarce in the literature. In this study, we evaluated how Cephalotes borgmeieri (Kempf) foragers adjust their foraging activity to variations in abiotic factors. Throughout the day, the flow of foragers is positively influenced by temperature and luminosity and negatively affected by relative air humidity. Wind speed does not affect the flow of foragers. During the day, we can observe four groups of activity intensity: very low, low, medium, and high. The foraging peak occurs at the hottest and least humid times of the day