Task switching is associated with temporal delays in Temnothorax rugatulus ants

Gavin M. Leighton, Daniel Charbonneau and Anna Dornhaus

Behavioral Ecology, 2017, vol. 28, issue 1, 319-327

Abstract: Lay Summary Switching between tasks may incur time costs and select for the evolution of individual specialization. Individuals in animal societies often specialize on particular tasks, though the benefits of such division of labor are not always clear. We tested whether there were temporal costs of switching between types of work in a species of ant. We found that individuals are faster in starting a new bout of work when repeating the same type of work, regardless of which task workers had specialized on. Workers may therefore specialize on certain tasks to avoid this cost of switching.Twitter: @GMcLean0011

Keywords: division of labor; task switching; specialization; social insects (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2017
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