Maximizing food intake while minimizing risk is an important trade-off in the foraging behavior of most animals. In general, foragers are vulnerable and the ability to trade off benefits (food quantity) against costs (risk of being killed) may provide a considerable ecological advantage. Despite the increasing number of studies, the effects of food quantity and mortality risk signals on resource selection in eusocial insect is not well understood. Here, we investigated the combination of distinct levels of food quantity and the intensity of alarm signal on resource selection of a Neotropical termite, Nasutitermes corniger (Motschulsky) (Termitidae: Nasutitermitinae). Manipulative bioassays with binary and multiple choices were conducted over time to check the recruitment of termite groups among resources containing different levels of food quantity and alarm signals. Overall, our results showed that regardless of food quantity, termites avoid a food source if there is even a small amount of alarm signal. This work contributes to a better understanding of habitat use by termite species. Furthermore, it shows for the first time the combined effects of food quantity and alarm signals on the resource selection of an important ecological and economic termite species.

中文翻译：

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食物数量和警报信号的强度共同调节白蚁物种的资源选择

最大化食物摄入量同时最小化风险是大多数动物觅食行为的重要权衡。一般来说，觅食者很脆弱，权衡收益（食物数量）和成本（被杀死的风险）的能力可能会提供相当大的生态优势。尽管研究数量不断增加，但食物数量和死亡风险信号对真社会性昆虫资源选择的影响尚不清楚。在这里，我们研究了不同水平的食物数量和警报信号强度的组合对新热带白蚁 Nasutitermes corniger (Motschulsky)（白蚁科：Nasutitermitinae）资源选择的影响。随着时间的推移，进行了二元和多重选择的操作性生物测定，以检查含有不同水平食物数量和警报信号的资源中白蚁群体的招募情况。总体而言，我们的结果表明，无论食物数量如何，只要有少量警报信号，白蚁就会避开食物源。这项工作有助于更好地了解白蚁物种的栖息地利用情况。此外，它首次显示了食物数量和警报信号对重要生态和经济白蚁物种资源选择的综合影响。