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Flintham L, Field J. The evolution of morphological castes under decoupled control. J Evol Biol 2024; 37:947-959. [PMID: 38963804 DOI: 10.1093/jeb/voae080] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/26/2023] [Revised: 05/30/2024] [Accepted: 07/03/2024] [Indexed: 07/06/2024]
Abstract
Eusociality, where units that previously reproduced independently function as one entity, is of major interest in evolutionary biology. Obligate eusociality is characterized by morphologically differentiated castes and reduced conflict. We explore conditions under which morphological castes may arise in the Hymenoptera and factors constraining their evolution. Control over offspring morphology and behaviour seems likely to be decoupled. Provisioners (queens and workers) can influence offspring morphology directly through the nutrition they provide, while adult offspring control their own behaviour. Provisioners may, however, influence worker behaviour indirectly if offspring modify their behaviour in response to their morphology. If manipulation underlies helping, we should not see helping evolve before specialized worker morphology, yet empirical observations suggest that behavioural castes precede morphological castes. We use evolutionary invasion analyses to show how the evolution of a morphologically differentiated worker caste depends on the prior presence of a behavioural caste: specialist worker morphology will be mismatched with behaviour unless some offspring already choose to work. A mother's certainty about her offspring's behaviour is also critical-less certainty results in greater mismatch. We show how baseline worker productivity can affect the likelihood of a morphological trait being favoured by natural selection. We then show how under a decoupled control scenario, morphologically differentiated castes should be less and less likely to be lost as they become more specialized. We also suggest that for eusociality to be evolutionarily irreversible, workers must be unable to functionally replace reproductives and reproductives must be unable to reproduce without help from workers.
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Affiliation(s)
- Lewis Flintham
- Centre for Ecology and Conservation, University of Exeter, Penryn, United Kingdom
- Division of Biosciences, University College London, London, United Kingdom
- School of Biological Sciences, Royal Holloway University of London, Egham, United Kingdom
| | - Jeremy Field
- Centre for Ecology and Conservation, University of Exeter, Penryn, United Kingdom
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2
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Cabuslay C, Wertz JT, Béchade B, Hu Y, Braganza S, Freeman D, Pradhan S, Mukhanova M, Powell S, Moreau C, Russell JA. Domestication and evolutionary histories of specialized gut symbionts across cephalotine ants. Mol Ecol 2024; 33:e17454. [PMID: 39005142 DOI: 10.1111/mec.17454] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/21/2024] [Revised: 05/09/2024] [Accepted: 06/02/2024] [Indexed: 07/16/2024]
Abstract
The evolution of animals and their gut symbionts is a complex phenomenon, obscured by lability and diversity. In social organisms, transmission of symbionts among relatives may yield systems with more stable associations. Here, we study the history of a social insect symbiosis involving cephalotine ants and their extracellular gut bacteria, which come predominantly from host-specialized lineages. We perform multi-locus phylogenetics for symbionts from nine bacterial orders, and map prior amplicon sequence data to lineage-assigned symbiont genomes, studying distributions of rigorously defined symbionts across 20 host species. Based on monophyly and additional hypothesis testing, we estimate that these specialized gut bacteria belong to 18 distinct lineages, of which 15 have been successfully isolated and cultured. Several symbiont lineages showed evidence for domestication events that occurred later in cephalotine evolutionary history, and only one lineage was ubiquitously detected in all 20 host species and 48 colonies sampled with amplicon 16S rRNA sequencing. We found evidence for phylogenetically constrained distributions in four symbionts, suggesting historical or genetic impacts on community composition. Two lineages showed evidence for frequent intra-lineage co-infections, highlighting the potential for niche divergence after initial domestication. Nearly all symbionts showed evidence for occasional host switching, but four may, more often, co-diversify with their hosts. Through our further assessment of symbiont localization and genomic functional profiles, we demonstrate distinct niches for symbionts with shared evolutionary histories, prompting further questions on the forces underlying the evolution of hosts and their gut microbiomes.
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Affiliation(s)
- Christian Cabuslay
- Department of Biology, Drexel University, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA
| | - John T Wertz
- Department of Biology, Calvin College, Grand Rapids, Michigan, USA
| | - Benoît Béchade
- Department of Biology, Drexel University, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA
| | - Yi Hu
- Department of Biology, Drexel University, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA
- State key Laboratory of Earth Surface Processes and Resource Ecology and Ministry of Education Key Laboratory for Biodiversity Science and Ecological Engineering, College of Life Sciences, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, China
| | - Sonali Braganza
- Department of Biology, Drexel University, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA
| | - Daniel Freeman
- Department of Biology, Drexel University, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA
| | - Shreyansh Pradhan
- Department of Biology, Drexel University, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA
| | - Maria Mukhanova
- Department of Biology, Drexel University, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA
| | - Scott Powell
- Department of Biological Sciences, George Washington University, Washington, District of Columbia, USA
| | - Corrie Moreau
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York, USA
| | - Jacob A Russell
- Department of Biology, Drexel University, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA
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3
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Imirzian N, Püffel F, Roces F, Labonte D. Large deformation diffeomorphic mapping of 3D shape variation reveals two distinct mandible and head capsule morphs in Atta vollenweideri leaf-cutter worker ants. Ecol Evol 2024; 14:e11236. [PMID: 38633523 PMCID: PMC11021802 DOI: 10.1002/ece3.11236] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/29/2023] [Revised: 02/21/2024] [Accepted: 03/15/2024] [Indexed: 04/19/2024] Open
Abstract
Ants are crucial ecosystem engineers, and their ecological success is facilitated by a division of labour among sterile "workers". In some ant lineages, workers have undergone further morphological differentiation, resulting in differences in body size, shape, or both. Distinguishing between changes in size and shape is not trivial. Traditional approaches based on allometry reduce complex 3D shapes into simple linear, areal, or volume metrics; modern approaches using geometric morphometrics typically rely on landmarks, introducing observer bias and a trade-off between effort and accuracy. Here, we use a landmark-free method based on large deformation diffeomorphic metric mapping (LDDMM) to assess the co-variation of size and 3D shape in the mandibles and head capsules of Atta vollenweideri leaf-cutter ants, a species exhibiting extreme worker size-variation. Body mass varied by more than two orders of magnitude, but a shape atlas created via LDDMM on μ-CT-derived 3D mesh files revealed only two distinct head capsule and mandibles shapes-one for the minims (body mass < 1 mg) and one for all other workers. We discuss the functional significance of the identified 3D shape variation, and its implications for the evolution of extreme polymorphism in Atta.
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Affiliation(s)
| | | | - Flavio Roces
- Department of Behavioural Physiology and SociobiologyBiocenter, University of WürzburgWürzburgGermany
| | - David Labonte
- Department of BioengineeringImperial College LondonLondonUK
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4
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Adams BJ, Gora EM, Donaldson-Matasci MC, Robinson EJH, Powell S. Competition and habitat availability interact to structure arboreal ant communities across scales of ecological organization. Proc Biol Sci 2023; 290:20231290. [PMID: 37752835 PMCID: PMC10523074 DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2023.1290] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/12/2023] [Accepted: 08/25/2023] [Indexed: 09/28/2023] Open
Abstract
Understanding how resource limitation and biotic interactions interact across spatial scales is fundamental to explaining the structure of ecological communities. However, empirical studies addressing this issue are often hindered by logistical constraints, especially at local scales. Here, we use a highly tractable arboreal ant study system to explore the interactive effects of resource availability and competition on community structure across three local scales: an individual tree, the nest network created by each colony and the individual ant nest. On individual trees, the ant assemblages are primarily shaped by availability of dead wood, a critical nesting resource. The nest networks within a tree are constrained by the availability of nesting resources but also influenced by the co-occurring species. Within individual nests, the distribution of adult ants is only affected by distance to interspecific competitors. These findings demonstrate that resource limitation exerts the strongest effects on diversity at higher levels of local ecological organization, transitioning to a stronger effect of species interactions at finer scales. Collectively, these results highlight that the process exerting the strongest influence on community structure is highly dependent on the scale at which we examine the community, with shifts occurring even across fine-grained local scales.
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Affiliation(s)
- Benjamin J. Adams
- Department of Biological Sciences, George Washington University, Washington, DC, USA
| | - Evan M. Gora
- Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, Balboa, Panama
- Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies, Millbrook, NY, USA
| | | | | | - Scott Powell
- Department of Biological Sciences, George Washington University, Washington, DC, USA
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5
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McMunn MS, Hudson AI, Zemenick AT, Egerer M, Bennett L, Philpott SM, Vannette RL. Thermal sensitivity and seasonal change in the gut microbiome of a desert ant, Cephalotes rohweri. FEMS Microbiol Ecol 2022; 98:6596280. [PMID: 35641145 DOI: 10.1093/femsec/fiac062] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/03/2022] [Revised: 05/12/2022] [Accepted: 05/24/2022] [Indexed: 11/14/2022] Open
Abstract
Microorganisms within ectotherms must withstand the variable body temperatures of their hosts. Shifts in host body temperature resulting from climate change have the potential to shape ectotherm microbiome composition. Microbiome compositional changes occurring in response to temperature in nature have not been frequently examined, restricting our ability to predict microbe-mediated ectotherm responses to climate change. In a set of field-based observations, we characterized gut bacterial communities and thermal exposure across a population of desert arboreal ants (Cephalotes rohweri). In a paired growth chamber experiment, we exposed ant colonies to variable temperature regimes differing by 5 °C for three months. We found that the abundance and composition of ant-associated bacteria were sensitive to elevated temperatures in both field and laboratory experiments. We observed a subset of taxa that responded similarly to temperature in the experimental and observational study, suggesting a role of seasonal temperature and local temperature differences amongst nests in shaping microbiomes within the ant population. Bacterial mutualists in the genus Cephaloticoccus (Opitutales: Opitutaceae) were especially sensitive to change in temperature-decreasing in abundance in naturally warm summer nests and warm growth chambers. We also report the discovery of a member of the Candidate Phlya Radiation (Phylum: Gracilibacteria), a suspected epibiont, found in low abundance within the guts of this ant species.
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Affiliation(s)
- Marshall S McMunn
- Department of Environmental Studies, University of California, Santa Cruz, 1156 High Street, Santa Cruz, CA, 95064, USA.,Department of Entomology and Nematology, University of California, Davis, One Shields Avenue, Davis, California 95616, USA
| | - Asher I Hudson
- Center for Population Biology, Department of Evolution and Ecology, University of California, Davis, One Shields Avenue, Davis, California 95616, USA
| | - Ash T Zemenick
- Department of Entomology and Nematology, University of California, Davis, One Shields Avenue, Davis, California 95616, USA.,Sagehen Creek Field Station, University of California Berkeley, 11616 Sage Hen Rd, Truckee, CA, 96161, USA
| | - Monika Egerer
- Department of Environmental Studies, University of California, Santa Cruz, 1156 High Street, Santa Cruz, CA, 95064, USA.,Technical University of Munich, TUM School of Life Sciences, Hans Carl-von-Carlowitz-Platz 2, 85354 Freising, Germany
| | - Lucas Bennett
- Department of Wildlife, Fish, and Conservation Biology, University of California, Davis, One Shields Avenue, Davis, California 95616, USA
| | - Stacy M Philpott
- Department of Environmental Studies, University of California, Santa Cruz, 1156 High Street, Santa Cruz, CA, 95064, USA
| | - Rachel L Vannette
- Department of Entomology and Nematology, University of California, Davis, One Shields Avenue, Davis, California 95616, USA
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6
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Casadei‐Ferreira A, Feitosa RM, Pie MR. Size and shape in the evolution of the worker head in
Pheidole
ants (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). J Zool (1987) 2022. [DOI: 10.1111/jzo.12978] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/28/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- A. Casadei‐Ferreira
- Departamento de Zoologia Setor de Ciências Biológicas Centro Politécnico Universidade Federal do Paraná Curitiba Paraná Brazil
- Biodiversity and Biocomplexity Unit Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology Graduate University Onna Okinawa Japan
| | - R. M. Feitosa
- Departamento de Zoologia Setor de Ciências Biológicas Centro Politécnico Universidade Federal do Paraná Curitiba Paraná Brazil
| | - M. R. Pie
- Departamento de Zoologia Setor de Ciências Biológicas Centro Politécnico Universidade Federal do Paraná Curitiba Paraná Brazil
- Biology Department Edge Hill University Ormskirk Lancashire UK
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7
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Evolution of innate behavioral strategies through competitive population dynamics. PLoS Comput Biol 2022; 18:e1009934. [PMID: 35286315 PMCID: PMC8947601 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pcbi.1009934] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/20/2021] [Revised: 03/24/2022] [Accepted: 02/18/2022] [Indexed: 11/21/2022] Open
Abstract
Many organism behaviors are innate or instinctual and have been “hard-coded” through evolution. Current approaches to understanding these behaviors model evolution as an optimization problem in which the traits of organisms are assumed to optimize an objective function representing evolutionary fitness. Here, we use a mechanistic birth-death dynamics approach to study the evolution of innate behavioral strategies in a simulated population of organisms. In particular, we performed agent-based stochastic simulations and mean-field analyses of organisms exploring random environments and competing with each other to find locations with plentiful resources. We find that when organism density is low, the mean-field model allows us to derive an effective objective function, predicting how the most competitive phenotypes depend on the exploration-exploitation trade-off between the scarcity of high-resource sites and the increase in birth rate those sites offer organisms. However, increasing organism density alters the most competitive behavioral strategies and precludes the derivation of a well-defined objective function. Moreover, there exists a range of densities for which the coexistence of many phenotypes persists for evolutionarily long times. The innate, or instinctual, behavioral strategies that populations of organisms employ to navigate their environments and fend for survival are shaped over epochs of evolutionary selection, in contrast to individual behaviors that can change within an individual’s lifetime based on experience and sensory input. Understanding how the interplay between organism and their environment shapes which behavior strategies emerge as the most successful for a population’s survival is a major problem in mathematical biology. Often, evolution is modeled as an optimization process that selects for behaviors that optimize the “fitness” of organisms in their environment. However, the fundamental evolutionary events are stochastic birth and death events, and the most successful organisms that emerge under these dynamics are not always those predicted by fitness-based approaches. In this work, we use agent-based stochastic simulations and mean-field approximations of a mechanistic population dynamics model to investigate the evolution of a population’s innate foraging strategies. In particular, we investigate when an emergent fitness function can be derived and how competition between individuals for resources alters the most successful behavioral strategies and precludes the derivation of a simple fitness function that predicts the most successful behavioral strategies.
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8
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Abbot P. Defense in Social Insects: Diversity, Division of Labor, and Evolution. ANNUAL REVIEW OF ENTOMOLOGY 2022; 67:407-436. [PMID: 34995089 DOI: 10.1146/annurev-ento-082521-072638] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/14/2023]
Abstract
All social insects defend their colony from predators, parasites, and pathogens. In Oster and Wilson's classic work, they posed one of the key paradoxes about defense in social insects: Given the universal necessity of defense, why then is there so much diversity in mechanisms? Ecological factors undoubtedly are important: Predation and usurpation have imposed strong selection on eusocial insects, and active defense by colonies is a ubiquitous feature of all social insects. The description of diverse insect groups with castes of sterile workers whose main duty is defense has broadened the purview of social evolution in insects, in particular with respect to caste and behavior. Defense is one of the central axes along which we can begin to organize and understand sociality in insects. With the establishment of social insect models such as the honey bee, new discoveries are emerging regarding the endocrine, neural, and gene regulatory mechanisms underlying defense in social insects. The mechanisms underlying morphological and behavioral defense traits may be shared across diverse groups, providing opportunities for identifying both conserved and novel mechanisms at work. Emerging themes highlight the context dependency of and interaction between factors that regulate defense in social insects.
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Affiliation(s)
- Patrick Abbot
- Department of Biological Sciences, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, Tennessee, USA;
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9
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Donaldson-Matasci MC, Powell S, Dornhaus A. Distributing defenses: How resource defendability shapes the optimal response to risk. Am Nat 2022; 199:636-652. [DOI: 10.1086/718715] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/03/2022]
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10
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García-Navas V, Tobias JA, Schweizer M, Wegmann D, Schodde R, Norman JA, Christidis L. Trophic niche shifts and phenotypic trait evolution are largely decoupled in Australasian parrots. BMC Ecol Evol 2021; 21:212. [PMID: 34837943 PMCID: PMC8626917 DOI: 10.1186/s12862-021-01940-4] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/23/2021] [Accepted: 11/11/2021] [Indexed: 11/26/2022] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND Trophic shifts from one dietary niche to another have played major roles in reshaping the evolutionary trajectories of a wide range of vertebrate groups, yet their consequences for morphological disparity and species diversity differ among groups. METHODS Here, we use phylogenetic comparative methods to examine whether the evolution of nectarivory and other trophic shifts have driven predictable evolutionary pathways in Australasian psittaculid parrots in terms of ecological traits such as body size, beak shape, and dispersal capacity. RESULTS We found no evidence for an 'early-burst' scenario of lineage or morphological diversification. The best-fitting models indicate that trait evolution in this group is characterized by abrupt phenotypic shifts (evolutionary jumps), with no sign of multiple phenotypic optima correlating with different trophic strategies. Thus, our results point to the existence of weak directional selection and suggest that lineages may be evolving randomly or slowly toward adaptive peaks they have not yet reached. CONCLUSIONS This study adds to a growing body of evidence indicating that the relationship between avian morphology and feeding ecology may be more complex than usually assumed and highlights the importance of adding more flexible models to the macroevolutionary toolbox.
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Affiliation(s)
- Vicente García-Navas
- Department of Integrative Ecology, Doñana Biological Station EBD (CSIC), Seville, Spain.
- Department of Evolutionary Biology and Environmental Studies, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland.
- Centre for Ecology, Evolution and Environmental Changes (cE3c), University of Lisbon, Lisbon, Portugal.
| | - Joseph A Tobias
- Department of Life Sciences (Silwood Park), Faculty of Natural Sciences, Imperial College London, London, UK
| | | | - Daniel Wegmann
- Department of Biology, University of Fribourg, Fribourg, Switzerland
- Swiss Institute of Bioinformatics, Fribourg, Switzerland
| | - Richard Schodde
- Australian National Wildlife Collection, CSIRO Sustainable Ecosystems, Canberra, Australia
| | | | - Les Christidis
- Southern Cross University, Coffs Harbour, NSW, Australia
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11
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Mizumoto N, Bourguignon T. The evolution of body size in termites. Proc Biol Sci 2021; 288:20211458. [PMID: 34784763 PMCID: PMC8596001 DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2021.1458] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/29/2021] [Accepted: 10/27/2021] [Indexed: 12/17/2022] Open
Abstract
Termites are social cockroaches. Because non-termite cockroaches are larger than basal termite lineages, which themselves include large termite species, it has been proposed that termites experienced a unidirectional body size reduction since they evolved eusociality. However, the validity of this hypothesis remains untested in a phylogenetic framework. Here, we reconstructed termite body size evolution using head width measurements of 1638 modern and fossil termite species. We found that the unidirectional body size reduction model was only supported by analyses excluding fossil species. Analyses including fossil species suggested that body size diversified along with speciation events and estimated that the size of the common ancestor of modern termites was comparable to that of modern species. Our analyses further revealed that body size variability among species, but not body size reduction, is associated with features attributed to advanced termite societies. Our results suggest that miniaturization took place at the origin of termites, while subsequent complexification of termite societies did not lead to further body size reduction.
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Affiliation(s)
- Nobuaki Mizumoto
- Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology Graduate University, 1919-1 Tancha, Onna-son, Okinawa 904-0495, Japan
| | - Thomas Bourguignon
- Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology Graduate University, 1919-1 Tancha, Onna-son, Okinawa 904-0495, Japan
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12
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Abstract
Classical evolutionary game theory allows one to analyze the population dynamics of interacting individuals playing different strategies (broadly defined) in a population. To expand the scope of this framework to allow us to examine the evolution of these individuals’ strategies over time, we present the idea of a fitness-generating (G) function. Under this model, we can simultaneously consider population (ecological) and strategy (evolutionary) dynamics. In this paper, we briefly outline the differences between game theory and classical evolutionary game theory. We then introduce the G function framework, deriving the model from fundamental biological principles. We introduce the concept of a G-function species, explain the process of modeling with G functions, and define the conditions for evolutionary stable strategies (ESS). We conclude by presenting expository examples of G function model construction and simulations in the context of predator–prey dynamics and the evolution of drug resistance in cancer.
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13
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Lecocq de Pletincx N, Dellicour S, Aron S. The evolution of ant worker polymorphism correlates with multiple social traits. Behav Ecol Sociobiol 2021. [DOI: 10.1007/s00265-021-03049-6] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/24/2022]
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14
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Reznikova Z. Ants’ Personality and Its Dependence on Foraging Styles: Research Perspectives. Front Ecol Evol 2021. [DOI: 10.3389/fevo.2021.661066] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/29/2022] Open
Abstract
The paper is devoted to analyzing consistent individual differences in behavior, also known as “personalities,” in the context of a vital ant task—the detection and transportation of food. I am trying to elucidate the extent to which collective cognition is individual-based and whether a single individual’s actions can suffice to direct the entire colony or colony units. The review analyzes personalities in various insects with different life cycles and provides new insights into the role of individuals in directing group actions in ants. Although it is widely accepted that, in eusocial insects, colony personality emerges from the workers’ personalities, there are only a few examples of investigations of personality at the individual level. The central question of the review is how the distribution of behavioral types and cognitive responsibilities within ant colonies depends on a species’ foraging style. In the context of how workers’ behavioral traits display during foraging, a crucial question is what makes an ant a scout that discovers a new food source and mobilizes its nestmates. In mass recruiting, tandem-running, and even in group-recruiting species displaying leadership, the division of labor between scouts and recruits appears to be ephemeral. There is only little, if any, evidence of ants’ careers and behavioral consistency as leaders. Personal traits characterize groups of individuals at the colony level but not performers of functional roles during foraging. The leader-scouting seems to be the only known system that is based on a consistent personal difference between scouting and foraging individuals.
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15
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Ecosystem engineering in the arboreal realm: heterogeneity of wood-boring beetle cavities and their use by cavity-nesting ants. Oecologia 2021; 196:427-439. [PMID: 33970331 DOI: 10.1007/s00442-021-04934-7] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/14/2020] [Accepted: 04/30/2021] [Indexed: 10/21/2022]
Abstract
Wood-boring beetle larvae act as ecosystem engineers by creating stem cavities that are used secondarily as nests by many arboreal ant species. Understanding the heterogeneity and distribution of available cavities and their use by ants is therefore key to understanding arboreal ant community assembly and diversity. Our goals were to quantify the abundance and diversity of beetle-produced cavity resources in a tropical canopy, reveal how ants use these resources, and determine which characteristics of the cavity resource contribute to ant use. We dissected branches from six common tree species in the Brazilian Cerrado savanna, measuring cavity characteristics and identifying the occupants. We sampled 2310 individual cavities, 576 of which were used as nests by 25 arboreal ant species. We found significant differences among tree species in the proportion of stem length bored by beetles, the number of cavities per stem length, average entrance-hole size, and the distribution of cavity volumes. The likelihood that a cavity was occupied was greater for cavities with larger entrance-hole sizes and larger volumes. In particular, there was a strong positive correlation between mean head diameters of ant species and the mean entrance-hole diameter of the cavities occupied by those ant species. Wood-boring beetles contribute to the structuring of the Cerrado ant community by differentially attacking the available tree species. In so doing, the beetles provide a wide range of entrance-hole sizes which ant species partition based on their body size, and large volume cavities that ants appear to prefer.
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16
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Chang J, Powell S, Robinson EJH, Donaldson-Matasci MC. Nest choice in arboreal ants is an emergent consequence of network creation under spatial constraints. SWARM INTELLIGENCE 2021. [DOI: 10.1007/s11721-021-00187-5] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/21/2022]
Abstract
AbstractBiological transportation networks must balance competing functional priorities. The self-organizing mechanisms used to generate such networks have inspired scalable algorithms to construct and maintain low-cost and efficient human-designed transport networks. The pheromone-based trail networks of ants have been especially valuable in this regard. Here, we use turtle ants as our focal system: In contrast to the ant species usually used as models for self-organized networks, these ants live in a spatially constrained arboreal environment where both nesting options and connecting pathways are limited. Thus, they must solve a distinct set of challenges which resemble those faced by human transport engineers constrained by existing infrastructure. Here, we ask how a turtle ant colony’s choice of which nests to include in a network may be influenced by their potential to create connections to other nests. In laboratory experiments with Cephalotes varians and Cephalotes texanus, we show that nest choice is influenced by spatial constraints, but in unexpected ways. Under one spatial configuration, colonies preferentially occupied more connected nest sites; however, under another spatial configuration, this preference disappeared. Comparing the results of these experiments to an agent-based model, we demonstrate that this apparently idiosyncratic relationship between nest connectivity and nest choice can emerge without nest preferences via a combination of self-reinforcing random movement along constrained pathways and density-dependent aggregation at nests. While this mechanism does not consistently lead to the de-novo construction of low-cost, efficient transport networks, it may be an effective way to expand a network, when coupled with processes of pruning and restructuring.
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17
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Priest GV, Camarota F, Vasconcelos HL, Powell S, Marquis RJ. Active modification of cavity nest‐entrances is a common strategy in arboreal ants. Biotropica 2021. [DOI: 10.1111/btp.12922] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/28/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Galen V. Priest
- Department of Biology and the Whitney R. Harris World Ecology Center University of Missouri‐St. Louis St. Louis MO USA
| | - Flávio Camarota
- Department of Biological Sciences The George Washington University Washington DC USA
- Instituto de Biologia Universidade Federal de Uberlândia Uberlândia Brazil
- Instituto de Biologia Geral Universidade Federal de Viçosa Viçosa Brazil
| | | | - Scott Powell
- Department of Biological Sciences The George Washington University Washington DC USA
| | - Robert J. Marquis
- Department of Biology and the Whitney R. Harris World Ecology Center University of Missouri‐St. Louis St. Louis MO USA
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18
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Schrader L, Winter M, Errbii M, Delabie J, Oettler J, Gadau J. Inhibition of HSP90 causes morphological variation in the invasive ant
Cardiocondyla obscurior. JOURNAL OF EXPERIMENTAL ZOOLOGY PART B-MOLECULAR AND DEVELOPMENTAL EVOLUTION 2021; 336:333-340. [DOI: 10.1002/jez.b.23035] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/02/2020] [Revised: 01/13/2021] [Accepted: 02/04/2021] [Indexed: 01/16/2023]
Affiliation(s)
- Lukas Schrader
- Institute for Evolution and Biodiversity University of Münster Münster Germany
| | - Miles Winter
- Institute for Evolution and Biodiversity University of Münster Münster Germany
| | - Mohammed Errbii
- Institute for Evolution and Biodiversity University of Münster Münster Germany
| | - Jacques Delabie
- Laboratório de Mirmecologia Cocoa Research Center‐CEPLAC & UESC‐DCAA Itabuna Bahia Brazil
| | - Jan Oettler
- Lehrstuhl für Zoologie/Evolutionsbiologie University of Regensburg Regensburg Germany
| | - Jürgen Gadau
- Institute for Evolution and Biodiversity University of Münster Münster Germany
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Neves FS, Antoniazzi R, Camarota F, Pacelhe FT, Powell S. Spatiotemporal dynamics of the ant community in a dry forest differ by vertical strata but not by successional stage. Biotropica 2021. [DOI: 10.1111/btp.12918] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/27/2023]
Affiliation(s)
- Frederico S. Neves
- Departamento de Genética Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais Belo Horizonte Brazil
- Programa de Pós‐Graduação em Ecologia Conservação e Manejo da Vida Silvestre Instituto de Ciências Biológicas Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais Brazil
| | - Reuber Antoniazzi
- Red de Ecoetología Instituto de Ecología A.C. Xalapa, Veracruz Mexico
| | - Flávio Camarota
- Departamento de Biologia Geral Universidade Federal de Viçosa Viçosa, Minas Gerais Brazil
- Department of Biological Sciences The George Washington University Washington DC USA
| | - Fábio T. Pacelhe
- Programa de Pós‐Graduação em Ecologia Conservação e Manejo da Vida Silvestre Instituto de Ciências Biológicas Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais Brazil
| | - Scott Powell
- Department of Biological Sciences The George Washington University Washington DC USA
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Camarota F, Vasconcelos HL, Marquis RJ, Powell S. Revisiting ecological dominance in arboreal ants: how dominant usage of nesting resources shapes community assembly. Oecologia 2020; 194:151-163. [PMID: 32909091 DOI: 10.1007/s00442-020-04748-z] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/06/2020] [Accepted: 09/02/2020] [Indexed: 02/05/2023]
Abstract
Ecologically dominant species can shape the assembly of ecological communities via altering competitive outcomes. Moreover, these effects may be amplified under limited niche differentiation. Nevertheless, the influences of ecological dominance and niche differentiation on assembly are rarely considered together. Here, we provide a novel examination of dominance in a diverse arboreal ant community, defining dominance by the prevalent usage of nesting resources and addressing how it influences community assembly. We first used a series of quantitative observational and experimental studies to address the natural nesting ecology, colony incidence on surveyed trees, and level of dominance over newly available nesting resources by our focal species, Cephalotes pusillus. The experimental studies were then used further to examine whether C. pusillus shapes assembly via an influence on cavity usage by co-occurring species. C. pusillus was confirmed as a dominant user of cavity nesting resources, with highly generalized nesting ecology, occupying about 50% of the trees within the focal system, and accounting for more than a third of new cavity occupation in experiments. Our experiments showed further that the presence of C. pusillus was associated with modest effects on species richness, but significant decreases in cavity-occupation levels and significant shifts in the entrance-size usage by co-occurring species. These results indicate that C. pusillus, as a dominant user of nesting resources, shapes assembly at multiple levels. Broadly, our findings highlight that complex interactions between a dominant species and the resource-usage patterns of other species can underlie species assembly in diverse ecological communities.
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Affiliation(s)
- Flávio Camarota
- Department of Biological Sciences, The George Washington University, Washington, USA. .,Instituto de Biologia, Universidade Federal de Uberlândia, Uberlândia, Brazil. .,Instituto de Biologia Geral, Universidade Federal de Viçosa, Viçosa, MG, Brazil.
| | | | - Robert J Marquis
- Department of Biology and the Whitney R. Harris World Ecology Center, University of Missouri-St. Louis, St. Louis, MO, 63121, USA
| | - Scott Powell
- Department of Biological Sciences, The George Washington University, Washington, USA
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