Task-specific cues

The long-chain hydrocarbons of insects play central roles in the waterproofing of the insect cuticle and function extensively in chemical communication where relatively non-volatile chemicals are required. The recognition of the critical roles that hydrocarbons serve as sex pheromones, kairomones, species and gender recognition cues, nestmate recognition, dominance and fertility cues, chemical mimicry, primer pheromones and task-specific cues has resulted in an explosion of new information in the past several decades, and, indeed, served as the impetus for this book. 

We also need to understand how social insects are capable of extracting different kinds of information from the cuticular profile (Peeters and Liebig, 2009). Besides information about fertility, many other types of information are encoded. The interference in nestmate recognition based on cuticular hydrocarbons with information about fertility is particularly interesting. Different thresholds for recognition of different information may be involved (Le Conte and Hefetz, 2008). Further challenges to the understanding of profile discrimination are obvious when we consider task-specific cues (see Chapter 12). 

Figure 12.1 Harvester ant foragers are stimulated to leave the nest in search of seeds in response to cues present in the task-specific cuticular hydrocarbon profile of patrollers. After inhibition of foragers at harvester ant colonies by removal of patrollers, colony foraging behavior was rescued by the addition of ant mimics, glass beads coated with task-specific cuticular hydrocarbons from patrollers, to the nest entrance at a rate of 1 bead every 10 seconds. Data were normalized to account for differences in the absolute number of foragers active each day. The same letters above bars denote statistical significance using a Tukey s post-hoc test. From Greene and Gordon, 2003.

Cue-strategy associations Task-specific teammate characteristics and responsibilities Shared task models Team mission objectives, norms, resources... 

Task-specific role responsibilities Team role and interaction patterns Procedures for task accomplishment Accurate task models Accurate problem models Boundary spanning role Cue-strategy associations... 

Each medical unit must develop a standard operating procedure (SOP) that defines how each task will be accomplished. The unit s SOP must be simple but all-inclusive each task must be defined. Cue cards or checklists to address specific tasks or the sequence of tasks can be prepared as appendices to the SOP. The cue cards, distributed at the outset of an event, prevent essential tasks from being overlooked. The SOPs must be consolidated and reviewed... 

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