Resource redistribution in polydomous ant nest networks: local or global?

Ellis, Stephen; Franks, Daniel W.; Robinson, Elva J. H.

doi:10.1093/beheco/aru108

Cited by 31 publications

(75 citation statements)

References 46 publications

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“…However, to date few studies have actually investigated how transfer of individuals (and resources) affects the substructure of these cooperative units (but see Ellis et al . ; Ellis & Robinson ). Our study shows that worker movement plays a role in determining the genetic substructure of supercolonies, but we can only speculate as to whether genetic network patterns mirror a functional redistribution of ants (Rosengren & Fortelius ; Gordon et al .…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Genetic structure of native ant supercolonies varies in space and time

2016

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Ant supercolonies are the largest cooperative units known in nature. They consist of networks of interconnected nests with hundreds of reproductive queens, where individuals move freely between nests, cooperate across nest boundaries and show little aggression towards non-nestmates. The combination of high queen numbers and free mixing of workers, queens and brood between nests results in extremely low nestmate relatedness. In such low-relatedness societies, cooperative worker behaviour appears maladaptive because it may aid random individuals instead of relatives. Here, we provide a comprehensive picture of genetic substructure in supercolonies of the native wood ant Formica aquilonia using traditional population genetic as well as network analysis methods. Specifically, we test for spatial and temporal variation in genetic structure of different classes of individuals within supercolonies and analyse the role of worker movement in determining supercolony genetic networks. We find that relatedness within supercolonies is low but positive when viewed on a population level, which may be due to limited dispersal of individuals and/or ecological factors such as nest site limitation and competition against conspecifics. Genetic structure of supercolonies varied with both sample class and sampling time point, which indicates that mobility of individuals varies according to both caste and season and suggests that generalizing has to be carried out with caution in studies of supercolonial species. Overall, our analysis provides novel evidence that native wood ant supercolonies exhibit fine-scale genetic substructure, which may explain the maintenance of cooperation in these low-relatedness societies.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Genetic structure of native ant supercolonies varies in space and time

2016

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“…Meat ants [28] other [29][30][31][32][33][34][35] [31] are squares, other species [32][33][34][35][36][37][38] are diamonds) with our model suggests crossover strategies are relevant for different ant species.…”

Section: Dmst -Like Crossovermentioning

confidence: 76%

“…Building on these observations, we used our model as a framework to quantify the trade-off between building and maintenance costs experienced by ants. For 30 published networks constructed by different ant species (Linepithema humile [32], Iridomyrmex purpureus [31,[33][34][35], Formica lugubris [36,37] and Camponotus gigas [38], see SM for detailed description of the datasets and methods), we measured the normalized Hamming distance from the MST built on the same set of nodes, and assigned a strategy β to each network by comparison with the model prediction for d(β, N )/N [ Fig. 4(b)].…”

Section: (C) Horizontal Dashed Line]mentioning

confidence: 99%

Balancing building and maintenance costs in growing transport networks

Bottinelli

Louf

2017

Phys. Rev. E

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The costs associated to the length of links impose unavoidable constraints to the growth of natural and artificial transport networks. When future network developments cannot be predicted, the costs of building and maintaining connections cannot be minimized simultaneously, requiring competing optimization mechanisms. Here, we study a one-parameter nonequilibrium model driven by an optimization functional, defined as the convex combination of building cost and maintenance cost. By varying the coefficient of the combination, the model interpolates between global and local length minimization, i.e., between minimum spanning trees and a local version known as dynamical minimum spanning trees. We show that cost balance within this ensemble of dynamical networks is a sufficient ingredient for the emergence of tradeoffs between the network's total length and transport efficiency, and of optimal strategies of construction. At the transition between two qualitatively different regimes, the dynamics builds up power-law distributed waiting times between global rearrangements, indicating a point of nonoptimality. Finally, we use our model as a framework to analyze empirical ant trail networks, showing its relevance as a null model for cost-constrained network formation.

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“…The suggested benefits of polydomy to the colony include the following: risk spreading (van Wilgenburg & Elgar, ), efficient resource acquisition and exploitation (Cook, Franks, & Robinson, ; Schmolke, ), escape from the limitations of a single nest site (Cao, ), or release from the inefficiency of a very large nest (Kramer, Scharf, & Foitzik, ; Robinson, ). All of these potential benefits of polydomy follow logically from the assumption that the colony is a cooperative unit, and this is reinforced by empirical evidence of cooperation in the form of resource exchange between nests (Buczkowski, ; Ellis, Franks, & Robinson, ; Ellis & Robinson, ; Gordon & Heller, ). Different methods for delineating ant colony boundaries do not always draw the same colony boundaries (Ellis, Franks & Robinson In Review; Ellis, Procter, Buckham‐Bonnett, Robinson In Review).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Polydomous colonies are defined as consisting of spatially separate nests linked by a social connection (Debout et al., ). Some ant species connect spatially separate nests with trails along which workers continually move back and forth, forming a clearly visible social connection (Ellis et al., ; Gordon & Heller, ; McIver, ). The strength of social connection between nests can be dramatic, with strong connections between nests involving hundreds of workers moving in either direction every minute (Skinner, ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Does cooperation mean kinship between spatially discrete ant nests?

Procter

Cottrell

Watts

et al. 2016

Ecology and Evolution

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Eusociality is one of the most complex forms of social organization, characterized by cooperative and reproductive units termed colonies. Altruistic behavior of workers within colonies is explained by inclusive fitness, with indirect fitness benefits accrued by helping kin. Members of a social insect colony are expected to be more closely related to one another than they are to other conspecifics. In many social insects, the colony can extend to multiple socially connected but spatially separate nests (polydomy). Social connections, such as trails between nests, promote cooperation and resource exchange, and we predict that workers from socially connected nests will have higher internest relatedness than those from socially unconnected, and noncooperating, nests. We measure social connections, resource exchange, and internest genetic relatedness in the polydomous wood ant Formica lugubris to test whether (1) socially connected but spatially separate nests cooperate, and (2) high internest relatedness is the underlying driver of this cooperation. Our results show that socially connected nests exhibit movement of workers and resources, which suggests they do cooperate, whereas unconnected nests do not. However, we find no difference in internest genetic relatedness between socially connected and unconnected nest pairs, both show high kinship. Our results suggest that neighboring pairs of connected nests show a social and cooperative distinction, but no genetic distinction. We hypothesize that the loss of a social connection may initiate ecological divergence within colonies. Genetic divergence between neighboring nests may build up only later, as a consequence rather than a cause of colony separation.

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Resource redistribution in polydomous ant nest networks: local or global?

Cited by 31 publications

References 46 publications

Genetic structure of native ant supercolonies varies in space and time

Genetic structure of native ant supercolonies varies in space and time

Balancing building and maintenance costs in growing transport networks

Does cooperation mean kinship between spatially discrete ant nests?

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