A Master's thesis in Ecophysiology, Ecology and Ethology from Strasbourg University, written by Léo Korst and supervised by Sarah Rogoz and Yuko Ulrich at the Max Planck Institute for Chemical Ecology. It investigates allogrooming behavior and survival in the clonal raider ant Ooceraea biroi after fungal exposure, using an automated tracking approach with SLEAP pose estimation and BORIS…
This document is a Master's thesis in Ecophysiology, Ecology and Ethology from Strasbourg University, written by Léo Korst. It is aimed at researchers and students in behavioral ecology, entomology, and social immunity. The thesis investigates how the clonal raider ant Ooceraea biroi defends its colony against fungal infections through allogrooming behavior, and how this varies with ant age and social context.
The introduction covers the costs and benefits of sociality, social immunity mechanisms, entomopathogenic fungi, and introduces the study species Ooceraea biroi. It also states the research question and hypotheses. The materials and methods section details ant colony maintenance, fungal cultures and exposure preparation, and describes two experiments: one on allogrooming response by age and infection stage, and another on the effect of social environment on survival.
The methods also explain video recording and behavioral scoring, including the use of SLEAP convolutional neural network for pose estimation and BORIS software for behavioral annotation. Statistical analyses include SLEAP performance and filter accuracy, grooming analysis, and survival analysis. The results section presents findings from both experiments, including SLEAP performance, fungal pathogenicity checks, allogrooming responses across infection progression, and the influence of social…
The discussion interprets the extended grooming classification approach using SLEAP, the colony defense across fungal infection, and the sensitivity of young ants' survival to social context. The conclusion summarizes key findings, and future directions suggest further research. A bibliography and table of contents are included, along with acknowledgments and author contribution percentages.
The thesis reports that SLEAP can track O. biroi in a colony and pathogen context, but grooming filters have high sensitivity and low specificity. Biological results show enduring allogrooming in old colonies but decreasing allogrooming in young colonies. Survival rates in advanced infection stages depend on social environment for young ants, requiring group living but not age-matched individuals.