Submitted by Automa??o e Estat?stica (sst@bczm.ufrn.br) on 2016-02-03T21:41:35Z No. of bitstreams: 1 DinaLilliaOliveiraDeAzevedo_TESE.pdf: 1220898 bytes, checksum: ede080e8b66e3ed28eed0d6833c1ddf8 (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Arlan Eloi Leite Silva (eloihistoriador@yahoo.com.br) on 2016-02-04T19:56:56Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 DinaLilliaOliveiraDeAzevedo_TESE.pdf: 1220898 bytes, checksum: ede080e8b66e3ed28eed0d6833c1ddf8 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2016-02-04T19:56:56Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 DinaLilliaOliveiraDeAzevedo_TESE.pdf: 1220898 bytes, checksum: ede080e8b66e3ed28eed0d6833c1ddf8 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2014-09-30 / Coordena??o de Aperfei?oamento de Pessoal de N?vel Superior - CAPES / Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Cient?fico e Tecnol?gico - CNPq / As decis?es comportamentais de um animal n?o ocorrem de forma aleat?ria, uma vez que os comportamentos s?o ajustados para garantir a sobreviv?ncia e a reprodu??o do animal. Nesta pesquisa, examinei decis?es comportamentais no contexto de forrageamento da formiga Dinoponera quadriceps com rela??o ? orienta??o, avalia??o do alimento e din?mica do forrageio ao n?vel do indiv?duo. O estudo foi realizado no Laborat?rio de Biologia Comportamental na UFRN e em uma ?rea de Mata Atl?ntica secund?ria na FLONA-ICMBio de N?sia Floresta/RN. Em todas as observa??es e experimentos as formigas foram marcadas individualmente com uma etiqueta, com c?digo alfanum?rico, colada no t?rax. Na primeira parte do estudo analisei as pistas de orienta??o utilizadas por D. quadriceps. Em um labirinto de 17 compartimentos testei cada oper?ria forrageadora por 10 min em tr?s sess?es para seis tratamentos diferentes. Os tratamentos consistiam da presen?a ou aus?ncia de odor e de marcas visuais superiores ou frontais. As oper?rias demonstraram que a presen?a de odor ? indispens?vel e que marcas visuais frontais s?o mais eficazes do que as visuais superiores. Na segunda parte, investiguei a discrimina??o do alimento, considerando os par?metros tamanho, peso e volume. Em um experimento de ?cafeteria?, disponibilizei em uma placa de Petri, dentro de uma arena experimental de 1m?, peda?os de alimento (mortadela) de forma cil?ndrica. Inicialmente, os peda?os eram de quatro tamanhos diferentes; numa segunda etapa, os peda?os eram do mesmo tamanho, mas com peso diferente; na ?ltima etapa, os peda?os tinham mesmo peso, mas volume diferente. O resultado mostrou o efeito dos par?metros tamanho e peso para a escolha do alimento. Na terceira parte do estudo, avaliei a influ?ncia da atividade das forrageadoras ativas nas inativas. As col?nias foram observadas em ambiente natural. As observa??es aconteciam em tr?s dias consecutivos por 10 vezes, total de 30 dias para cada col?nia, 12 horas/dia. No primeiro dia, eu observava a sa?da e entrada das oper?rias; no segundo dia, foram retiradas as oper?rias mais ativas e devolvidas ao final das observa??es; no terceiro dia, as observa??es eram similares ao primeiro dia. Como resultado, as oper?rias de D. quadriceps realizam autoestimula??o e n?o facilita??o social e a col?nia compensa a falta das oper?rias mais ativas. Com base no exposto, eu concluo que as oper?rias de D. quadriceps usam pistas de orienta??o qu?mica e visual frontal e superior nos seus deslocamentos. Elas discriminam o alimento escolhido por tamanho e peso. A regula??o da din?mica de atividade das forrageadoras ? por autoestimula??o, uma oper?ria ativa n?o influencia a atividade de uma forrageadora inativa, o sucesso da busca pr?via ? um est?mulo para a pr?pria oper?ria bem sucedida continuar a atividade de forrageio / The behavioral decisions of animals do not occur randomly, because behaviors are adjusted to ensure the survival and reproduction of the animal. In this research, I examined behavioral decisions in the foraging context of the ant Dinoponera quadriceps with regard to orientation, food avaliation and foraging dynamic to individual level. The study was conducted at the Laboratory of Behavioral Biology at UFRN and in an area of secondary Atlantic Forest in FLONA-ICMBio N?sia Floresta/RN. In all observations and experiments, ants were marked individually with an alphanumeric code label fixed on the thorax. In the first part of the study, I analyzed the orientation cues used by D. quadriceps. The tests were performed in a maze of 17 compartments. Each forager was tested for 10 min in three sessions for six different treatments. The treatments consisted of the presence or absence of odor and superior or frontal visual cues. The workers demonstrated that the presence of odor is indispensable and front visual cues are more effective than superior visual cues. In the second part, I investigated the discrimination of food, considering the parameters, size, weight and volume. In a 'cafeteria' experiment, I offered cylindrical pieces of food (mortadella) in a Petri dish, within an experimental arena 1m?. Initially, the pieces were of four different sizes; in a second step, the pieces were of the same size but with different weight; in the last step, the pieces had the same weight but different volumes. The results showed the effect of the size and weight parameters for food choice. In the third part of the study, I evaluated the influence of the activity of active foragers on inactive ones. In this part, the colonies were observed in a natural environment. The observations took place on three consecutive days in 10 episodes, total of 30 days for each colony, 12 hours/day. On the first day, I registered the output and input of workers; on the second day, the most active ants on the first day were taken and given back at the end of the observations; on the third day, the observations were similar to the first day. As a result, the workers of D. quadriceps show autostimulation and they do not show social facilitation and the colony compensates the absence of the most active workers. Based on the stated, I conclude that workers of D. quadriceps use chemical, frontal and superior visual orientation cues during their displacements. They discriminate the chosen food by size and weight. The regulation of activity dynamics of foragers is by autostimulation, an active worker does not influence the activity of an inactive worker, the successful search previous is the stimulus to the successful worker itself to continue foraging activity.