Blade-running: an efficient yet simple behaviour to potentially combat summit disease in ants
We argue that while this behaviour is not necessarily specific to summit disease but rather part of a general sanitary repertoire, its efficiency in removing elevated corpses before sporulation could reduce pathogen transmission and might contribute to the low prevalence observed in our field population.
Authors
- Ágota Réka Szabó (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4637-3948)
- László Rákosy (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7793-6996)
- Bálint Markó (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6039-8231)
- Katalin Erős
- Enikő Csata (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2564-9706)
- Abel Bernadou
Institutions
- Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (FR)
- Babeș-Bolyai University (RO)
- Centre de Recherches sur la Cognition Animale (FR)
Publication Details
- Journal
- BMC Ecology and Evolution
- Published
- 2026-03-17
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1186/s12862-026-02508-w
- Primary Topic
- Insect and Arachnid Ecology and Behavior
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 0.00