Category:Intertidal zone

Species known to nest within the intertidal zone.

Jaffe (1993) found the following behavioral adaptations in workers observed to forage in the intertidal zone. As soon as a worker was touched by water, it assumed a "nymphal" posture, contracting its legs and bending the abdomen to the ventral part of the thorax. In this position, workers were able to float over the foam of the wave, surfing in front of the rolling wave over the beach, until the water was absorbed into the sand. As soon as the ant dried, it extended its legs and immediately continued to forage (over 50 workers from 4 species were observed surfing and none of them drowned). No avoidance behavior toward the water was observed, nor did workers avoid foraging in the direction of the ocean. Workers from all these species, when dropped on calm sea water, eventually drowned.

References

• Jaffe, K. 1993. Surfing ants. Florida Entomologist 76: 182-183.
• Robson, S. 2010 Ants in the intertidal zone: colony and behavioral adaptations for survival. In: Lach, Lori, Parr, Catherine L., and Abbott, Kirsti L., (eds.) Ant Ecology. Oxford University Press, Oxford, pp. 185-186.