Increased soldier production in ant colonies exposed to intraspecific competition

Passera, Luc; Roncin, Eric; Kaufmann, Brigitte; Keller, Laurent

doi:10.1038/379630a0

Cited by 163 publications

(130 citation statements)

References 22 publications

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“…In this species, only large and mediumsized workers withstand extreme heat conditions and can leave the nest at higher daily temperatures to forage (Cerdá et al 1998;Cerdá & Retana 2000). The relationship between workers' morphology and the task that she usually does has been documented in several other polymorphic ants (reviewed in: Hölldobler & Wilson 1990;Passera & Aron 2005) and is supposed to confer an ergonomic advantage to the colony through a better and more efficient division of labour among workers (Oster & Wilson 1978;Gordon 1996;Passera et al 1996;Waser 1998).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Genetic diversity, worker size polymorphism and division of labour in the polyandrous ant Cataglyphis cursor

et al. 2008

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Understanding the adaptive significance of multiple mating (polyandry) by females has long been a challenge in evolutionary biology. Several genetic and nongenetic benefits have been proposed to explain the evolution and maintenance of polyandry. In eusocial Hymenoptera, a prominent hypothesis is that increased genetic diversity within colonies results in more polymorphic workers and facilitates division of labour. We analysed the genetic basis of worker size (i.e. worker head width) and task preference in Cataglyphis cursor, an ant showing natural variations in queen-mating frequency. Our data show that increased genetic diversity within colonies does not result in more polymorphic workers. Moreover, worker head width is not different between patrilines within colonies. Consistent with these findings, worker size has a low heritable component. Moreover, task performance is not correlated with patriline. By contrast, it is significantly associated with worker size: the first foragers leaving the nest at sunrise are significantly larger than workers remaining in the nest. Overall, these results do not support the hypothesis that multiple mating is favoured because increased genetic diversity within colonies translates into more polymorphic workers and facilitates genetic polyethism. We discuss other hypotheses to account for the evolution of polyandry in C. cursor.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Genetic diversity, worker size polymorphism and division of labour in the polyandrous ant Cataglyphis cursor

et al. 2008

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“…by lowering colony protein intake), phorids reduce worker populations. Protein-limited colonies may replace these costly, yet invaluable, majors as observed for other ant species (Hö lldobler & Wilson 1990;Passera et al 1996) when encountering severe environmental stresses (e.g. such as intense competition), but at the probable expense of investment in other castes, including reproductives.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Colony–level impacts of parasitoid flies on fire ants

Mehdiabadi

Gilbert

2002

Proc. R. Soc. Lond. B

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The red imported re ant is becoming a global ecological problem, having invaded the United States, Puerto Rico, New Zealand and, most recently, Australia. In its established areas, this pest is devastating natural biodiversity. Early attempts to halt re ant expansion with pesticides actually enhanced its spread. Phorid y parasitoids from South America have now been introduced into the United States as potential biological control agents of the red imported re ant, but the impact of these ies on re ant populations is currently unknown. In the laboratory, we show that an average phorid density of as little as one attacking y per 200 foraging ants decreased colony protein consumption nearly twofold and signi cantly reduced numbers of large-sized workers 50 days later. The high impact of a single phorid occurred mainly because ants decreased foraging rates in the presence of the ies. Our experiments, the rst (to our knowledge) to link indirect and direct effects of phorids on re ants, demonstrate that colonies can be stressed with surprisingly low parasitoid densities. We interpret our ndings with regard to the more complex re antphorid interactions in the eld.

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“…Hence, although the importance of worker size diversity for colony performance has been demonstrated in species with high continuous worker size diversity, worker subcastes or soldiers (e.g. Passera et al 1996, other references in introduction), the benefits are far from clear in species with limited worker size diversity (references in Table 1). …”

Section: Onmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…This has been shown in species where workers are highly variable morphologically or where a discrete soldier caste exists such as harvester ants (Wilson 1984;Arnan et al 2011), turtle ants (Powell 2009) and leaf-cutter ants (Evison et al 2008) among others (e.g. Porter and Tschinkel 1986;Foster 1990;Hasegawa 1993a;Hasegawa 1993b;Passera et al 1996;Harvey et al 2000;Perry et al 2004;Toth and Duffy 2008;Grüter et al 2012). However, Fjerdingstad and Crozier (2006) highlighted the fact that worker size diversity is limited in the majority of ant species, including some of the most successful species.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Decreasing worker size diversity does not affect colony performance during laboratory challenges in the ant Temnothorax nylanderi

Colin

Doums

Péronnet

et al. 2017

Behav Ecol Sociobiol

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Authors' contributions TC collected colonies, reared them, performed the experiments and statistical analyses, and wrote the manuscript. CD designed the study, contributed to statistical analysis and wrote the manuscript. RP collected colonies, and assisted in rearing and experiments. MM designed the study, wrote the manuscript, and supervised the project. All authors read and approved the final manuscript. Within-colony phenotypic diversity can play an essential role in some eusocial insect taxa by increasing the performance of division of labor, thereby increasing colony fitness. Empirical studies of the effect of phenotypic diversity on colony fitness mostly focused on species with discrete castes (workers, soldiers) or with continuously and highly morphologically variable workers, which is not the most common case. Indeed, most species exhibit continuous but limited worker morphological variation. It is still unclear whether this variation impacts colony fitness. To test this, we reduced the worker size diversity in 25 colonies of the ant Temnothorax nylanderi and compared their performances to 25 control colonies. We reared these colonies in the laboratory and measured the effect of treatment (reduced diversity or control) and colony size (number of workers) on colony performance at six challenges, as well as on worker mortality and brood production. The reduction of worker size diversity did not affect colony performance nor mortality and brood production. As expected, colony performance and brood production increased with colony size. These results suggest that worker size diversity may not be under positive selection in this species, but rather the product of a lack of developmental canalization. We propose that social life could decrease the selective pressures maintaining developmental canalization, subsequently leading to higher size diversity without necessarily increasing colony performance. 4 Significance statementIn social insects, nestmate size diversity is commonly thought to improve division of labour and colony performance. This has been clearly demonstrated in species with high size diversity, either discrete or continuous, but this is unclear in most of the social insects that exhibit low size diversity. We experimentally decreased worker size diversity in the ant Temnothorax nylanderi, a species with low worker size diversity. Reducing worker size diversity had no effect on colony performance, worker mortality or brood production. Our findings support the hypothesis that low size diversity is merely the product of developmental noise and is not necessarily adaptive. We propose that social life could relax the selective pressures maintaining developmental and social canalizations, subsequently leading to size diversity.5

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Increased soldier production in ant colonies exposed to intraspecific competition

Cited by 163 publications

References 22 publications

Genetic diversity, worker size polymorphism and division of labour in the polyandrous ant Cataglyphis cursor

Genetic diversity, worker size polymorphism and division of labour in the polyandrous ant Cataglyphis cursor

Colony–level impacts of parasitoid flies on fire ants

Decreasing worker size diversity does not affect colony performance during laboratory challenges in the ant Temnothorax nylanderi

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