Personalidade colonial modula a toxicidade de inseticidas em cupins

Abstract

Animal personality can influence importante ecological processes, including responses to environmental risks. Termites are social insects of great ecological importance in tropical exosystems due to their role in nutriente cycling and the economic damage caused by some species. Studies investigating colony personality in termites are scarce, and there is currently no evidence regarding the influence of colony personality on pest management efficiency. Here, we investigated whether differences in the activity levels of Nasutitermes corniger colonies are associated with susceptibility to the insecticide imidacloprid and with contaminant transmission among colony members. Initially, colony activity profiles were characterized using Principal Component Analysis (PCA). Based on the first principal component and complementary behavioral traits, six colonies were classified as exhibiting either low- or high-activity profiles. Toxicity and horizontal transfer bioassays were subsequently conducted and analyzed using mixed-effects models. We evaluated susceptibility to imidacloprid, as well as contaminant transfer and behavioral responses among members of low- and high-activity colonies. Our results showed that low-activity colonies were less susceptible to imidacloprid, requiring a 1.84-fold higher dose to achieve the same mortality observed in high-activity colonies. However, low-activity colonies exhibited higher mortality resulting from horizontal transfer than high-activity colonies. These findings may be explained by the fact that high-activity colonies displayed more vibrational behavior and a lower frequency of social interactions following exposure, which may have limited the horizontal transfer of the insecticide. In contrast, low-activity colonies exhibited greater aggregation and a higher frequency of interindividual contacts, facilitating the spread of the insecticide among colony members. This study demonstrates that colony personality can influence contaminant exposure, susceptibility, and transmission in termites, with potential implications for colony fitness as well as for the management of these insects.