Oecophylla cytochrome oxidase (COX) data

Oecophylla brain and body mass data, brain volume data, and cytochrome oxidase activity data from Kamhi JF, Gronenberg W, Robson SKA, Traniello JFA (2016) Social complexity influences brain investment and neural operation costs in ants.

Extract from Abstract [Related Publication]: The metabolic expense of producing and operating neural tissue required for adaptive behaviour is considered a significant selective force in brain evolution. In primates, brain size correlates positively with group size, presumably owing to the greater cognitive demands of complex social relationships in large societies. Social complexity in eusocial insects is also associated with large groups, as well as collective intelligence and division of labour among sterile workers. However, superorganism phenotypes may lower cognitive demands on behaviourally specialized workers resulting in selection for decreased brain size and/or energetic costs of brain metabolism. To test this hypothesis, we compared brain investment patterns and cytochrome oxidase (COX) activity, a proxy for ATP usage, in two ant species contrasting in social organization.

The full methodology is available in the publication shown in the Related Publications link below.

    Data Record Details
    Data record related to this publication Oecophylla cytochrome oxidase (COX) data
    Data Publication title Oecophylla cytochrome oxidase (COX) data
  • Description

    Oecophylla brain and body mass data, brain volume data, and cytochrome oxidase activity data from Kamhi JF, Gronenberg W, Robson SKA, Traniello JFA (2016) Social complexity influences brain investment and neural operation costs in ants.

    Extract from Abstract [Related Publication]: The metabolic expense of producing and operating neural tissue required for adaptive behaviour is considered a significant selective force in brain evolution. In primates, brain size correlates positively with group size, presumably owing to the greater cognitive demands of complex social relationships in large societies. Social complexity in eusocial insects is also associated with large groups, as well as collective intelligence and division of labour among sterile workers. However, superorganism phenotypes may lower cognitive demands on behaviourally specialized workers resulting in selection for decreased brain size and/or energetic costs of brain metabolism. To test this hypothesis, we compared brain investment patterns and cytochrome oxidase (COX) activity, a proxy for ATP usage, in two ant species contrasting in social organization.

    The full methodology is available in the publication shown in the Related Publications link below.

  • Other Descriptors
    • Descriptor

      This dataset is available from Dryad in MS Excel (.xlsx) format. Dryad data package: Kamhi JF, Gronenberg W, Robson SKA, Traniello JFA (2016) Data from: Social complexity influences brain investment and neural operation costs in ants. Dryad Digital Repository. http://dx.doi.org/10.5061/dryad.39gb2

    • Descriptor type Note
  • Data type dataset
  • Keywords
    • Oecophylla
    • social brain evolution
    • collective intelligence
    • metabolic cost
    • division of labor
    • cytochrome oxidase
  • Funding source
  • Research grant(s)/Scheme name(s)
  • Research themes
    Tropical Ecosystems, Conservation and Climate Change
    FoR Codes (*)
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    Temporal (time) coverage
  • Start Date
  • End Date
  • Time Period
    Spatial (location) coverage
  • Locations
    • 19.3293, -146.754
    • Oecophylla smaragdina nests were collected from savannah woodlands on the James Cook University campus in Townsville, Queensland, Australia
    Data Locations

    Type Location Notes
    URL http://dx.doi.org/10.5061/dryad.39gb2
    The Data Manager is: Simon Robson
    College or Centre
    Access conditions Open: free access under license
  • Alternative access conditions
  • Data record size 1 file: 57.05 KB
  • Related publications
      Name Kamhi, J. Frances, Gronenberg, Wulfila, Robson, Simon K.A., and Traniello, James F.A. (2016) Social complexity influences brain investment and neural operation costs in ants. Proceedings of the Royal Society of London Series B, Biological Sciences, 283 (1841). pp. 1-9.
    • URL http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2016.1949
    • Notes
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    • Notes
    Citation Robson, Simon (2016): Oecophylla cytochrome oxidase (COX) data . James Cook University. https://research.jcu.edu.au/data/published/3358c6471475a6d3e6f0499f9ecc2fe6