First time field experiments: Short and long periods of activities of red wood ants (F. rufa-group)

What is it about?

Red wood ants (RWA) are bioindicators of actively degassing tectonic fault systems. We have shown for the first time in the field for four RWA nests, that activity patterns of two RWA species (F. pratensis; F. polyctena) were similarly periodic and exhibited very short but also long rhythms under natural light and dark conditions. Also activities could be observed during dawn and at night especially at the new moon and first quarter after the astronomical twilight in a period of darkness in fall. We hypothesize that local variability in the Earth’s magnetic field affects long-term activity patterns, whereas humidity and temperature were more strongly associated with short-term rhythms (less than 20 h).

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Why is it important?

To further promote the understanding of biological rhythms in organism it is also important to execute studies in the field, i.e. in natural ecosystems. Furthermore, biological rhythms should be also explored in relation to abiotic influences and rhythms, such as geophysical ones (e.g. seismic events, earth tides, degassing processes from the crust), influences from the sun (e.g. magnetic field variations), and weather processes. In our study of RWA we could show a relationship of abiotic parameters with biological rhythms. Abiotic parameters should therefore not be ruled out in future investigations biological rhythms.

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