ArticleScientific reports2018
Termites shape their collective behavioural response based on stage of infection.
Article in Scientific reports, 2018. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 25 papers.
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Who cites it
25 citing papers in PubMed.
- A new narrative for social immunity research in termites.Trends open · 2026Review
- Renaming the 'OS-D/CSP' Family (Part 2): '4-Cysteine Soluble Proteins' (4CSPs)-Intracellular Functions.Insects · 2026Review
- Using semi-folded arenas to observe spontaneous emergence of collective trails in whole colonies of termites.Movement ecology · 2026Article
- Altruistic disease signalling in ant colonies.Nature communications · 2025Article
- Defensive behavior is linked to altered surface chemistry following infection in a termite society.Scientific reports · 2023Article
- Draft Genome of the Entomopathogenic Fungus Metarhizium robertsii DSM 1490.Microbiology resource announcements · 2023Article
- Overcoming Immune Deficiency with Allogrooming.Insects · 2023Article
- Eating in a losing cause: limited benefit of modified macronutrient consumption following infection in the oriental cockroach Blatta orientalis.BMC ecology and evolution · 2022Article
- Short and long-term costs of inbreeding in the lifelong-partnership in a termite.Communications biology · 2022Article
- Dead Brood ofAnimals : an open access journal from MDPI · 2022Article
- A High Soldier Proportion Encouraged the Greater Antifungal Immunity in a Subterranean Termite.Frontiers in physiology · 2022Article
- Immune challenges increase network centrality in a queenless ant.Proceedings. Biological sciences · 2021Article
- Natural variation in colony inbreeding does not influence susceptibility to a fungal pathogen in a termite.Ecology and evolution · 2021Article
- Interaction betweenBiology · 2021Article
- Microbial Response to Fungal Infection in a Fungus-Growing Termite,Frontiers in microbiology · 2021Article
- Behaviours indicating cannibalistic necrophagy in ants are modulated by the perception of pathogen infection level.Scientific reports · 2020Article
- Prophylactic Avoidance of Hazardous Prey by the Ant HostInsects · 2020Article
- Increased genetic diversity from colony merging in termites does not improve survival against a fungal pathogen.Scientific reports · 2020Article
- Article
- High-Throughput Cultivation for the Selective Isolation of Acidobacteria From Termite Nests.Frontiers in microbiology · 2020Article
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4 authors.
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No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Social insects employ a range of behaviours to protect their colonies against disease, but little is known about how such collective behaviours are orchestrated. This is especially true for the social Blattodea (termites). We developed an experimental approach that allowed us to explore how the social response to disease is co-ordinated by multistep host-pathogen interactions. We infected the eastern subterranean termite Reticulitermes flavipes with the entomopathogenic fungus Metarhizium anisopliae, and then, at different stages of infection, reintroduced them to healthy nestmates and recorded behavioural responses. As expected, termites groomed pathogen-exposed individuals significantly more than controls; however, grooming was significantly elevated after fungal germination than before, demonstrating the importance of fungal status to hygienic behaviour. Significantly, we found that cannibalism became prevalent only after exposed termites became visibly ill, highlighting the importance of host condition as a cue for social hygienic behaviour. Our study reveals the presence of a coordinated social response to disease that depends on stage of infection. Specifically, we show how the host may play a key role in triggering its own sacrifice. Sacrificial self-flagging has been observed in other social insects: our results demonstrate that termites have independently evolved to both recognize and destructively respond to sickness.
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