Reproductive allocation in multinest colonies of the ponerine ant<i>Pachycondyla goeldii</i>

Denis, Damien; Pezon, Antoine; Fresneau, Dominique

doi:10.1111/j.1365-2311.2007.00873.x

Cited by 4 publications

(5 citation statements)

References 53 publications

(55 reference statements)

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“…Previous studies reported similar results with respect to reproductive allocation in ants, whereby nest productivity increased with nest density, due to local resource enhancement (Walin et al. 2001; Denis et al. 2007).…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 64%

Colony Budding and its Effects on Food Allocation in the Highly Polygynous Ant, Monomorium pharaonis

Buczkowski

Bennett

2009

Ethology

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To advance our understanding of the causes and the consequences of budding (colony multiplication by fragmentation of main nests), we investigated nest movement in the facultatively polydomous Pharaoh ant, Monomorium pharaonis. Demographic data revealed that Pharaoh ants are highly polygynous and have a relatively low worker to queen ratio of 12.86. Budding experiments demonstrated that the number of available bud nests has a significant effect on colony fragmentation and increasing the number of bud nests resulted in smaller colony fragments. The overall distribution among bud nests was uneven, even though there was no evidence that the different life stages and castes partitioned unevenly among the bud nests and the analysis of individual colonies revealed no evidence of an uneven split in any of the colonies. This demonstrates that Pharaoh ants have the ability to exert social control over colony size and caste proportions during budding, which may contribute to their success as an invasive ant. The intensity of nest disturbance had a significant effect on whether or not the ants migrated into bud nests. Major disturbance resulted in the ants abandoning the source nest and migrating to bud nests and minor disturbance did not stimulate the ants to abandon the source nest. The results of the successive budding experiment which allowed the ants the opportunity to bud into progressively smaller nest fragments demonstrate that Pharaoh ants maintain a preferred minimum group size of 469 ± 28 individuals. Food allocation experiments utilizing protein marking revealed that nest fragmentation in Pharaoh ants has no negative impact on intracolony food distribution. Overall, our results suggest that nest units in the Pharaoh ant behave like cooperative, rather than competitive, entities. Such cooperation is most likely facilitated by the fact that individuals in all bud nests are genetically related, remain in close proximity to each other, and may continue to exchange individuals after budding.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 64%

Colony Budding and its Effects on Food Allocation in the Highly Polygynous Ant, Monomorium pharaonis

Buczkowski

Bennett

2009

Ethology

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“…The other important feature in queenless nests is that isolating the diploid brood from queens may lead to new queens (e.g. Snyder and Herbers, 1991;Denis et al, 2007). Denis et al (2007) showed in the monogynous-polydomous ant Pachycondyla goeldi that queenless nests contained more virgin queens than queenright nests.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Snyder and Herbers, 1991;Denis et al, 2007). Denis et al (2007) showed in the monogynous-polydomous ant Pachycondyla goeldi that queenless nests contained more virgin queens than queenright nests. In P. chinensis, however, such biased production of alate queens in queenless nests was not found in our field study.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Seasonal cycle of colony structure in the Ponerine ant Pachycondyla chinensis in western Japan (Hymenoptera, Formicidae)

Gotoh

Ito

2008

Insect. Soc.

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Investigation of reproductive strategies of ants in the subfamily Ponerinae is important for understanding of the evolution of social structure and of the significance of caste dimorphisms. The biology of species with mated and egg-laying workers (gamergates) has been studied for many species, however, little attention has been paid to species that reproduce via alate queens only. We investigated the seasonal cycle of changes in the colony structure of Pachycondyla chinensis reproduced by alate queens in western Japan, and found the following novel biological characteristics of this species. P. chinensis showed a remarkable caste dimorphism in ovariole numbers: workers had no ovaries while queens had 18 to 36 ovarioles in their ovaries. The nesting system seemed to be polydomous: 266 of 400 nests collected were queenless. The number of queenless nests increased during the reproductive season. Among the 134 queenright nests, 38 had several mated-queens without significant differences in ovary activation and the remaining 96 nests were monogynous. During winter to early spring, most nests were polygynous. After alate production, most of the old queens seemed to die or be expelled and replaced by new queens. Virgin dealated queens were often found and they seemed to have laid eggs.

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“…In another monogynous and polydomous species, Pachycondyla goeldii, workers in queenless-satellite nests have an intermediate level of ovarian development compared to workers in orphaned and queenright nests, and distinctly shaped worker-produced eggs were found in queenless-satellite nests (Denis et al, 2007). However, the presence of realized worker-derived males in field colonies was not determined.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 98%

“…The effects of polydomy in monogynous (single queen) ant species on worker-queen reproductive conflict have only received attention in a handful of species. In four species, workers seem to bias the worker-gyne brood ratio in their favor by sexualizing diploid brood in queenless-satellite nests (Ito et al, 1988;Snyder and Herbers, 1991;Banschbach and Herbers, 1996;Cerda et al, 2002;Denis et al, 2007). This is thought to be a result of queenworker conflict over investment in colony growth versus reproduction (Pamilo, 1991;Herbers et al, 2001).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The potential for worker reproduction in the ant Aphaenogaster cockerelli and its absence in the field

et al. 2012

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A reproductive division of labor between subordinates and established reproductives is a hallmark of eusociality. In most groups, however, workers retain some reproductive capabilities. Across insect societies, measures of successful worker reproduction in the presence of a queen, with few exceptions, indicate that worker reproduction is kept at very low levels. There are, however, certain colony-level characteristics that may influence the degree to which worker reproduction is promoted, such as queen number, queen mating frequency, and physical presence of a queen in species with multiple nesting sites (polydomy). In this study, the level of worker reproduction in field colonies of the ant species Aphaenogaster cockerelli was measured. A. cockerelli is a monogynous and polydomous species, so worker reproduction across nesting sites was investigated. None of the 297 males sampled provided any evidence of worker reproduction. Worker reproduction would have been detectable if it was present at or above a level of 1.5 % of the total males per colony. An effective mating frequency for queens of this species was found to be 1.03. Although A. cockerelli colonies have many colonylevel factors potentially promoting worker reproduction (workers with active, trophic egg-producing ovaries, a single singly-mated queen, workers who are physically separated from the queen), it is evident that worker reproduction is highly regulated. Synthesizing the extensive amount of policing and fertility signaling data previously reported on this species, A. cockerelli is presented as case study for how worker reproduction is repressed and cooperation is maintained in insect societies.

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Reproductive allocation in multinest colonies of the ponerine antPachycondyla goeldii

Cited by 4 publications

References 53 publications

Colony Budding and its Effects on Food Allocation in the Highly Polygynous Ant, Monomorium pharaonis

Colony Budding and its Effects on Food Allocation in the Highly Polygynous Ant, Monomorium pharaonis

Seasonal cycle of colony structure in the Ponerine ant Pachycondyla chinensis in western Japan (Hymenoptera, Formicidae)

The potential for worker reproduction in the ant Aphaenogaster cockerelli and its absence in the field

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