Evolution of Social Woundcare in Ants

• Applicant: Privatdozent Dr. Erik Frank
• Subject Area: Evolution, Anthropology ; Sensory and Behavioural Biology ; Ecology and Biodiversity of Animals and Ecosystems, Organismic Interactions
• Term: since 2022
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 511474012

Open wounds pose major health risks. Recent discoveries in ants showed that other members of the group do not only rescue injured individuals from danger, but also diagnose and treat infected wounds with antimicrobial compounds, thereby curing otherwise lethal infections. These behaviours have until now only been described in one population of the termite-hunting ant species Megaponera analis (in Côte d’Ivoire), whereas it is absent in another population of the species in Mozambique where it hunts less pugnacious prey. However, preliminary results provide evidence for wound care towards injured individuals in another species, the army ant Eciton rapax in Ecuador. The large phylogenetic distance between Eciton and Megaponera (over 100 million years) suggests the convergent evolution of wound care behaviours.The aim of this project is therefore to better understand the evolutionary processes leading to rescue and social wound care behaviour and to identify promising new wound treatment protocols, novel antimicrobial compounds and wound healing mechanisms fine-tuned through evolutionary processes to potentially improve upon our own medical system. This will be achieved by doing behavioural analyses in the field on different species and populations of Eciton and Megaponera, by conducting chemical analyses of pheromones and antimicrobial compounds used during wound care. This gained knowledge will then be utilized to identify new species that conduct wound care to ultimately identify the drivers for the evolution of wound care behaviour.The first aim is to study species and populations within Megaponera and Eciton with presence/absence of rescue and wound care behaviour. If present, to what extent do these behaviours differ between species? Are predators of pugnacious prey more likely to develop cost-reducing adaptations like wound care? Are other factors like the value of the individual or the risk of injury and infections relevant for its evolution?The second aim is to analyse the communication pathways (pheromones and cuticular hydrocarbons) and treatments involved in rescue and wound care (antimicrobial compounds) from an evolutionary chemical ecology perspective. Are these communication pathways and compounds highly conserved or under selection pressure to diversify?The third aim is to identify other species conducting social wound care. Using the empirical data on behavioural and chemical ecology collected from these two genera, we will create a theoretical framework for the evolution of social wound care.The complexity and efficacy of rescue and wound care behaviour described for M. analis is the first in the world to even come close to rival human wound care treatments. By the end of this project, we will have extended that knowledge to other species, identified the drivers and constrains for the evolution of social wound care and its communication and discovered new compounds involved in wound healing and combatting infections.

• DFG Programme: Independent Junior Research Groups