ABS 2023
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Temperature Changes Induce Tipping Points in the Huddling and Behavioral Synchronization of Acorn Ant Colonies
Grant N Doering1,2, Timothy A Linksvayer1,2. 1Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ, United States; 2Texas Tech University, Lubbock, TX, United States

Many ecological systems undergo tipping points; small changes in an environmental variable can induce large changes in a system’s state. Substantial effort has been spent on categorizing and predicting the occurrence of these tipping points, but our understanding of tipping points in animal societies remains limited. We investigated the phenomenon of social tipping points by exposing acorn ant colonies (Temnothorax curvispinosus) to gradually changing ambient temperatures. By applying multiple computer vision techniques, we found that temperature changes induced tipping points in two distinct categories of colony collective behavior: rhythm synchronization as well as huddling. Below 20C, rhythm synchrony among ants declined in response to falling temperatures. Colonies also exhibited a tipping point in huddling behavior, where they formed a tightly clustered state starting at 15C. Hysteresis was present in this huddling transition; colonies rapidly dissolved the huddle once they began warming past 4C. These results demonstrate that onset and loss of social synchronization as well as the emergence of ectothermic huddling may be more complex than previously appreciated.