Dynamic uneven allocation of foraging exploration task among Eastern subterranean termite worker caste, Reticulitermes flavipes Kollar

Termite as a social insect divides works in the colony among its caste members. Other than the role of reproductive and defense, the rest of the tasks are delegated to worker caste. One of the tasks is foraging outside the nest. My previous study in eastern subterranean termite Reticulitermes flavipes found that among worker caste, termite with 14 antennal segments form the majority of foragers in the field. The current study goal was to further characterize forager allocation among termite foragers within the same age group. The results among the 14 antennal segment age group showed that a few individuals emerged as the high performing workers that performed the majority of foraging. While this heightened performance by these individuals may last for several days, it wanes over after many repeated trials and new individuals supplant these early high performer workers. The decrease in work performance among these high performer workers was no different than if the high performer worker was selected randomly which indicated that any worker could become the next high performer worker. Therefore, there were no specific high performing forager among termite's worker caste. This result implied that termites have dynamic approach in allocating work in which individual/(s) can become high performing depending on situational condition.