Body size variation of the ant Lasius niger along a metal pollution gradient

Grześ, Irena M.; Okrutniak, Mateusz; Gorzałczany, Monika; Piszczek, Piotr

doi:10.1007/s11356-019-04811-0

Cited by 6 publications

(5 citation statements)

References 57 publications

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“…Petal 1978;Nahmani and Lavelle 2002;Migliorini et al 2004). Although metal pollution may reduce ant colony size and survival, ants are known to be relatively resistant to metal pollution in comparison with other groups of epigeic fauna due to their ability to regulate their internal metal contents (Grześ 2009;Grześ et al 2019). Ants are "soil engineers", that is, edaphic organisms that are able to modulate the resources to other organisms through their mechanical activities (Folgarait 1998;Cammeraat and Risch 2008;Farji-Brener and Werenkraut 2017;Viles et al 2021).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Ant nests as a microbial hot spots in a long-term heavy metal-contaminated soils

Klimek

Poliwka-Modliborek

Grześ

2021

Environ Sci Pollut Res

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Interactions between soil fauna and soil microorganisms are not fully recognized, especially in extreme environments, such as long-term metal-polluted soils. The purpose of the study was to assess how the presence of Lasius niger ants affected soil microbial characteristics in a long-term metal-polluted area (Upper Silesia in Poland). Paired soil samples were taken from bulk soil and from ant nests and analysed for a range of soil physicochemical properties, including metal content (zinc, cadmium, and lead). Microbial analysis included soil microbial activity (soil respiration rate), microbial biomass (substrate-induced respiration rate), and bacteria catabolic properties (Biolog® ECO plates). Soil collected from ant nests was drier and was characterized by a lower content of organic matter, carbon and nitrogen contents, and also lower metal content than bulk soil. Soil microbial respiration rate was positively related to soil pH (p = 0.01) and negatively to water-soluble metal content, integrated into TIws index (p = 0.01). Soil microbial biomass was negatively related to TIws index (p = 0.04). Neither soil microbial activity and biomass nor bacteria catabolic activity and diversity indices differed between bulk soil and ant nests. Taken together, ant activity reduced soil contamination by metals in a microscale which support microbial community activity and biomass but did not affect Biolog® culturable bacteria.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Ant nests as a microbial hot spots in a long-term heavy metal-contaminated soils

Klimek

Poliwka-Modliborek

Grześ

2021

Environ Sci Pollut Res

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“…In our study, the experimental colonies produced with workers from three source colonies were more diverse than the control colonies in terms of genetic background and size variation. This is expected, as genetic effects on worker size and morphology have been reported in multiple species of ants [84][85][86] and worker size differs among colonies in L. niger 87 . Worker size and genetic background both influence the response threshold of individual workers 28,84,[88][89][90] , and worker size polymorphism is generally associated with improved division of labor [91][92][93] .…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 55%

“…We confirmed that our experimental manipulation increased size variation in the more diverse colonies. Such size diversity could stem from genetic differences across colonies, but could also be explained by environmental and maternal effects 84,85,87,101 . The genetic background affects size and morphology in eusocial insects [84][85][86] , thus one strategy to increase worker size diversity is to increase genetic diversity.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Experimental increase of worker diversity benefits brood production in ants

Psalti

Gohlke

Libbrecht

2021

Preprint

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The reproductive division of labor of eusocial insects, whereby one or several queens monopolize reproduction, evolved in a context of high genetic relatedness. However, many extant eusocial species have developed strategies that decrease genetic relatedness in their colonies, suggesting some benefits of the increased diversity. Multiple studies support this hypothesis by showing positive correlations between genetic diversity and colony fitness, as well as finding effects of experimental manipulations of diversity on colony performance. However, alternative explanations could account for most of these reports, and the benefits of diversity on fitness in eusocial insects still await validation. In this study, we experimentally increased worker diversity in the ant Lasius niger while controlling for typical confounding factors. We found that experimental colonies composed of workers coming from three different source colonies produced more larvae and showed more variation in size compared to groups of workers coming from a single colony. We propose that the benefits of increased diversity stemmed from an improved division of labor. Our study confirms that worker diversity enhances colony performance, thus providing a possible explanation for the evolution of multiply mated queens and multiple-queen colonies in many species of eusocial insects.

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“…In our study, the experimental colonies produced with workers from three source colonies were more diverse than the control colonies in terms of genetic background and size variation. Genetic effects on worker size and morphology have been reported in multiple species of ants [ 67 – 69 ] and worker size differs among colonies in L. niger [ 70 ]. Worker size and genetic background influence the response threshold of individual workers [ 30 , 67 , 71 – 73 ], and worker size polymorphism is generally associated with improved division of labor [ 74 – 76 ] (but there were contradictory results [ 77 , 78 ]).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…We confirmed that our experimental manipulation increased size variation in the more diverse colonies. Such size diversity could stem from genetic differences across colonies, but could also be explained by environmental and maternal effects [ 67 , 68 , 70 , 97 ]. The genetic background affects size and morphology in eusocial insects [ 67 – 69 ], thus one strategy to increase worker size diversity is to increase genetic diversity.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Experimental increase of worker diversity benefits brood production in ants

2021

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Background The reproductive division of labor of eusocial insects, whereby one or several queens monopolize reproduction, evolved in a context of high genetic relatedness. However, many extant eusocial species have developed strategies that decrease genetic relatedness in their colonies, suggesting some benefits of the increased diversity. Multiple studies support this hypothesis by showing positive correlations between genetic diversity and colony fitness, as well as finding effects of experimental manipulations of diversity on colony performance. However, alternative explanations could account for most of these reports, and the benefits of diversity on performance in eusocial insects still await validation. In this study, we experimentally increased worker diversity in small colonies of the ant Lasius niger while controlling for typical confounding factors. Results We found that experimental colonies composed of workers coming from three different source colonies produced more larvae and showed more variation in size compared to groups of workers coming from a single colony. Conclusions We propose that the benefits of increased diversity stemmed from an improved division of labor. Our study confirms that worker diversity enhances colony performance, thus providing a possible explanation for the evolution of multiply mated queens and multiple-queen colonies in many species of eusocial insects.

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Body size variation of the ant Lasius niger along a metal pollution gradient

Cited by 6 publications

References 57 publications

Ant nests as a microbial hot spots in a long-term heavy metal-contaminated soils

Ant nests as a microbial hot spots in a long-term heavy metal-contaminated soils

Experimental increase of worker diversity benefits brood production in ants

Experimental increase of worker diversity benefits brood production in ants

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