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Reiner Brodetzki T, Brodetzki G, Feinerman O, Hefetz A. Worker demography and behavior in a supercolonial ant colony: The case of the desert ant
Cataglyphis niger. Ethology 2019. [DOI: 10.1111/eth.12960] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/19/2023]
Affiliation(s)
- Tali Reiner Brodetzki
- School of Zoology George S. Wise Faculty of Life Sciences Tel Aviv University Tel Aviv Israel
| | - Guy Brodetzki
- Physics Department Tel Aviv University Tel Aviv Israel
| | - Ofer Feinerman
- Department of Physics of Complex Systems Weizmann Institute of Science Rehovot Israel
| | - Abraham Hefetz
- School of Zoology George S. Wise Faculty of Life Sciences Tel Aviv University Tel Aviv Israel
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Boomsma JJ, Huszár DB, Pedersen JS. The evolution of multiqueen breeding in eusocial lineages with permanent physically differentiated castes. Anim Behav 2014. [DOI: 10.1016/j.anbehav.2014.03.005] [Citation(s) in RCA: 56] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
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Caut S, Jowers MJ, Arnan X, Pearce-Duvet J, Rodrigo A, Cerda X, Boulay RR. The effects of fire on ant trophic assemblage and sex allocation. Ecol Evol 2014; 4:35-49. [PMID: 24455159 PMCID: PMC3894886 DOI: 10.1002/ece3.714] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/20/2013] [Accepted: 07/04/2013] [Indexed: 11/10/2022] Open
Abstract
Fire plays a key role in ecosystem dynamics worldwide, altering energy flows and species community structure and composition. However, the functional mechanisms underlying these effects are not well understood. Many ground-dwelling animal species can shelter themselves from exposure to heat and therefore rarely suffer direct mortality. However, fire-induced alterations to the environment may change a species' relative trophic level within a food web and its mode of foraging. We assessed how fire could affect ant resource utilization at different scales in a Mediterranean forest. First, we conducted isotopic analyses on entire ant species assemblages and their potential food resources, which included plants and other arthropods, in burned and unburned plots 1 year postfire. Second, we measured the production of males and females by nests of a fire-resilient species, Aphaenogaster gibbosa, and analyzed the differences in isotopic values among workers, males, and females to test whether fire constrained resource allocation. We found that, in spite of major modifications in biotic and abiotic conditions, fire had little impact on the relative trophic position of ant species. The studied assemblage was composed of species with a wide array of diets. They ranged from being mostly herbivorous to completely omnivorous, and a given species' trophic level was the same in burned and unburned plots. In A. gibbosa nests, sexuals had greater δ15N values than workers in both burned and unburned plots, which suggests that the former had a more protein-rich diet than the latter. Fire also appeared to have a major effect on A. gibbosa sex allocation: The proportion of nests that produced male brood was greater on burned zones, as was the mean number of males produced per nest with the same reproductive investment. Our results show that generalist ants with relatively broad diets maintained a constant trophic position, even following a major disturbance like fire. However, the dramatically reduced production of females on burned zones compared to unburned zones 1 year postfire may result in considerably reduced recruitment of new colonies in the mid to long term, which could yield genetic bottlenecks and founder effects. Our study paves the way for future functional analyses of fire-induced modifications in ant populations and communities.
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Affiliation(s)
- Stephane Caut
- Estación Biológica de Doñana, Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC) Av. Americo Vespucio s/n, 41092, Sevilla, Spain
| | - Michael J Jowers
- Estación Biológica de Doñana, Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC) Av. Americo Vespucio s/n, 41092, Sevilla, Spain ; Departamento de Zoología, Universidad de Granada Campus Fuente Nueva, 18071, Granada, Spain
| | | | - Jessica Pearce-Duvet
- Estación Biológica de Doñana, Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC) Av. Americo Vespucio s/n, 41092, Sevilla, Spain
| | - Anselm Rodrigo
- CREAF Campus UAB, E-08193, Bellaterra, Spain ; Facultat de Biociències, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona E- 08193, Bellaterra, Spain
| | - Xim Cerda
- Estación Biológica de Doñana, Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC) Av. Americo Vespucio s/n, 41092, Sevilla, Spain
| | - Raphaël R Boulay
- Departamento de Zoología, Universidad de Granada Campus Fuente Nueva, 18071, Granada, Spain ; Institut de Recherches sur la Biologie de l'Insecte, CNRS UMR 7261, Université François Rabelais de Tours Tours, 37200, France
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Seppä P, Johansson H, Gyllenstrand N, Pálsson S, Pamilo P. Mosaic structure of native ant supercolonies. Mol Ecol 2012; 21:5880-91. [PMID: 23094799 DOI: 10.1111/mec.12070] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/01/2012] [Revised: 08/22/2012] [Accepted: 08/28/2012] [Indexed: 11/30/2022]
Abstract
According to the inclusive fitness theory, some degree of positive relatedness is required for the evolution and maintenance of altruism. However, ant colonies are sometimes large interconnected networks of nests, which are genetically homogenous entities, causing a putative problem for the theory. We studied spatial structure and genetic relatedness in two supercolonies of the ant Formica exsecta, using nuclear and mitochondrial markers. We show that there may be multiple pathways to supercolonial social organization leading to different spatial genetic structures. One supercolony formed a genetically homogenous population dominated by a single mtDNA haplotype, as expected if founded by a small number of colonizers, followed by nest propagation by budding and domination of the habitat patch. The other supercolony had several haplotypes, and the spatial genetic structure was a mosaic of nuclear and mitochondrial clusters. Genetic diversity probably originated from long-range dispersal, and the mosaic population structure is likely a result of stochastic short-range dispersal of individuals. Such a mosaic spatial structure is apparently discordant with the current knowledge about the integrity of ant colonies. Relatedness was low in both populations when estimated among nestmates, but increased significantly when estimated among individuals sharing the same genetic cluster or haplogroup. The latter association indicates the important historical role of queen dispersal in the determination of the spatial genetic structure.
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Affiliation(s)
- P Seppä
- Department of Ecology and Genetics, EBC, Uppsala University, Norbyvägen 18 D, SE-75236, Uppsala, Sweden.
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Hovestadt T, Thomas JA, Mitesser O, Elmes GW, Schönrogge K. Unexpected benefit of a social parasite for a key fitness component of its ant host. Am Nat 2011; 179:110-23. [PMID: 22173464 DOI: 10.1086/663203] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/04/2022]
Abstract
Numerous invertebrates inhabit social insect colonies, including the hoverfly genus Microdon, whose larvae typically live as brood predators. Formica lemani ant colonies apparently endure Microdon mutabilis infections over several years, despite losing a considerable fraction of young, and may even produce more gynes. We present a model for resource allocation within polygynous ant colonies, which assumes that whether an ant larva switches development into a worker or a gyne depends on the quantity of food received randomly from workers. Accordingly, Microdon predation promotes gyne development by increasing resource availability for surviving broods. Several model predictions are supported by empirical data. (i) Uninfected colonies seldom produce gynes. (ii) Infected colonies experience a short-lived peak in gyne production leading to a bimodal distribution in gyne production. (iii) Low brood : worker ratio is the critical mechanism controlling gyne production. (iv) Brood : worker ratio reduction must be substantial for increased gyne production to become noticeable.
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Affiliation(s)
- Thomas Hovestadt
- Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Unité Mixte de Recherche 7179, 1 Avenue du Petit Château, 91800 Brunoy, France.
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Kümmerli R, Keller L. Between-year variation in population sex ratio increases with complexity of the breeding system in Hymenoptera. Am Nat 2011; 177:835-46. [PMID: 21597259 DOI: 10.1086/659951] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/03/2022]
Abstract
While adaptive adjustment of sex ratio in the function of colony kin structure and food availability commonly occurs in social Hymenoptera, long-term studies have revealed substantial unexplained between-year variation in sex ratio at the population level. In order to identify factors that contribute to increased between-year variation in population sex ratio, we conducted a comparative analysis across 47 Hymenoptera species differing in their breeding system. We found that between-year variation in population sex ratio steadily increased as one moved from solitary species, to primitively eusocial species, to single-queen eusocial species, to multiple-queen eusocial species. Specifically, between-year variation in population sex ratio was low (6.6% of total possible variation) in solitary species, which is consistent with the view that in solitary species, sex ratio can vary only in response to fluctuations in ecological factors such as food availability. In contrast, we found significantly higher (19.5%) between-year variation in population sex ratio in multiple-queen eusocial species, which supports the view that in these species, sex ratio can also fluctuate in response to temporal changes in social factors such as queen number and queen-worker control over sex ratio, as well as factors influencing caste determination. The simultaneous adjustment of sex ratio in response to temporal fluctuations in ecological and social factors seems to preclude the existence of a single sex ratio optimum. The absence of such an optimum may reflect an additional cost associated with the evolution of complex breeding systems in Hymenoptera societies.
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Affiliation(s)
- Rolf Kümmerli
- Department of Environmental Microbiology, Swiss Federal Institute of Aquatic Science and Technology (Eawag), Überlandstrasse, Dübendorf, Switzerland.
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Katzerke A, Bliss P, Moritz RFA. Size matters: mole (Talpa europaea) hills and nest-site selection of the ant Formica exsecta. POPUL ECOL 2009. [DOI: 10.1007/s10144-009-0180-2] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/20/2022]
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Kümmerli R, Keller L. Patterns of split sex ratio in ants have multiple evolutionary causes based on different within-colony conflicts. Biol Lett 2009; 5:713-6. [PMID: 19457886 DOI: 10.1098/rsbl.2009.0295] [Citation(s) in RCA: 19] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/12/2022] Open
Abstract
Split sex ratio-a pattern where colonies within a population specialize in either male or queen production-is a widespread phenomenon in ants and other social Hymenoptera. It has often been attributed to variation in colony kin structure, which affects the degree of queen-worker conflict over optimal sex allocation. However, recent findings suggest that split sex ratio is a more diverse phenomenon, which can evolve for multiple reasons. Here, we provide an overview of the main conditions favouring split sex ratio. We show that each split sex-ratio type arises due to a different combination of factors determining colony kin structure, queen or worker control over sex ratio and the type of conflict between colony members.
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Affiliation(s)
- Rolf Kümmerli
- Institute of Evolutionary Biology, University of Edinburgh, West Mains Road, Edinburgh EH9 3JT, UK.
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Foreign ant queens are accepted but produce fewer offspring. Oecologia 2008; 157:717-23. [PMID: 18622630 DOI: 10.1007/s00442-008-1101-3] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/09/2008] [Accepted: 06/09/2008] [Indexed: 10/21/2022]
Abstract
Understanding social evolution requires us to understand the processes regulating the number of breeders within social groups and how they partition reproduction. Queens in polygynous (multiple queens per colony) ants often seek adoption in established colonies instead of founding a new colony independently. This mode of dispersal leads to potential conflicts, as kin selection theory predicts that resident workers should favour nestmate queens over foreign queens. Here we compared the survival of foreign and resident queens as well as their relative reproductive share. We used the ant Formica exsecta to construct colonies consisting of one queen with workers related to this resident queen and introduced a foreign queen. We found that the survival of foreign queens did not differ from that of resident queens over a period of 136 days. However, the genetic analyses revealed that resident queens produced a 1.5-fold higher number of offspring than introduced queens, and had an equal or higher share in 80% of the colonies. These data indicate that some discrimination can occur against dispersing individuals and that dispersal can thus have costs in terms of direct reproduction for dispersing queens.
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