Sexual selection in honey bees: colony variation and the importance of size in male mating success

Couvillon, Margaret J.; Hughes, William O. H.; Pérez-Sato, Juan Antonio; Martin, Stephen J.; Roy, Gabrielle; Ratnieks, Francis L. W.

doi:10.1093/beheco/arq016

Cited by 49 publications

(49 citation statements)

References 28 publications

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“…Among drones, limited access to pollen reduces their reproductive quality (Czekońska et al 2015) and mating success (Couvillon et al 2010). Pollen limitation can also affect bees' susceptibility to Nosema spp.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Influence of pollen deprivation on the fore wing asymmetry of honeybee workers and drones

2016

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-Environmental stress during development can be linked to changes in morphological traits of the organism such as increased fluctuating asymmetry. In suboptimal conditions, like food deprivation, developmental stability may be perturbed, because organisms are not able to buffer disturbances caused by stressors and, in effect, greater degrees of asymmetry can arise during development. In this study, honeybee workers and drones were reared in colonies with limited and unlimited access to pollen. The developmental instability of the workers and drones in these colonies was assessed using the asymmetry of their fore wing venation. Both workers and drones showed a similar directional asymmetry of size-in favour of the right wing-and significant, but dissimilar, differences of wing shape. Limited access to pollen caused some differences in the fluctuating asymmetry of size and shape in pollen-deprived workers and drones compared to the control bees. However, more pronounced differences were found due to replication than to pollen deprivation itself. directional asymmetry / fluctuating asymmetry / pollen deprivation / Apis mellifera / fore wing

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Influence of pollen deprivation on the fore wing asymmetry of honeybee workers and drones

2016

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“…Indeed, eusocial hymenoptera colonies generally produce a skewed number of individuals of one sex over the other (Boomsma & Grafen ), which should therefore generate intense competition among individuals of the more numerous sex (Emlen & Oring ), and there is evidence that sexual selection effectively operates through male scramble competition (Hölldobler ; Couvillon et al. ), sperm competition in polyandrous species (Baer & Boomsma ; Jaffé et al. ) and even mate choice in wasps (de Souza et al.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In addition, the challenge of tracking and measuring behaviours during nuptial flights, when males and females mate on the wing within a large swarm of other sexual individuals, may have led to underestimating the importance of male competition in these species. Indeed, eusocial hymenoptera colonies generally produce a skewed number of individuals of one sex over the other (Boomsma & Grafen 1991), which should therefore generate intense competition among individuals of the more numerous sex (Emlen & Oring 1977), and there is evidence that sexual selection effectively operates through male scramble competition (H€ olldobler 1976;Couvillon et al 2010), sperm competition in polyandrous species (Baer & Boomsma 2004;Jaff e et al 2012) and even mate choice in wasps (de Souza et al 2014).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

First Evidence of Inclusive Sexual Selection in the Ant Cataglyphis cursor: Worker Aggressions Differentially Affect Male Access to Virgin Queens

2015

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Sexual selection typically shapes the traits of individuals capable of reproduction. However, in social species, it may also affect the behaviour of non‐reproductive individuals if this increases their inclusive fitness. We examined the potential role of workers during mating in the polyandrous ant Cataglyphis cursor. In this species, mating takes place on the ground near the nest entrance, and workers chase away foreign males trying to mate with young queens (gynes). We investigated the effects of worker aggression on male mating attempts by placing three or four males in the presence of one foreign gyne and 20 of her nestmate workers and contrasted this with a second group of 3–4 males in the presence of another gyne without nestmate workers (n = 8 paired replicates). Workers strongly attacked males (more than 20 aggressions per minute), although this did not affect the total number of mating attempts by the 3–4 males or the skew in the number of mating attempts among these males. However, there was an interaction between worker aggression and relative male weight, as relatively heavy males attempted to mate more often than lighter males in the absence of worker whereas the reverse occurred in the presence of workers. Our study is the first to experimentally test the potential role of non‐reproductive individuals in sexual selection. It shows that workers could potentially change male mating success by disfavouring heavier males.

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“…This suggests that the characteristics of their morphology and sexual functioning have been shaped primarily by sexual selection, rather than natural or kin selection (Baer, 2010), but explicit studies of the possible trade-offs involved in maximizing ant male reproductive success have been scant (Boomsma et al, 2005). Exceptions are a recent study on honeybees showing male size to be an important predictor of reproductive success (Couvillon et al, 2010), as well as studies on Cardiocondyla male ants, which are peculiar because they are long-lived and spermatogenesis continues throughout adult life (Heinze and Hölldobler, 1993;Heinze and Schrempf, 2008) in contrast to all other known ants where sperm production ceases during the pupal stage (Hölldobler and Bartz, 1985).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Variation in male body size and reproductive allocation in the leafcutter ant Atta colombica: estimating variance components and possible trade-offs

et al. 2010

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Sexual selection in honey bees: colony variation and the importance of size in male mating success

Cited by 49 publications

References 28 publications

Influence of pollen deprivation on the fore wing asymmetry of honeybee workers and drones

Influence of pollen deprivation on the fore wing asymmetry of honeybee workers and drones

First Evidence of Inclusive Sexual Selection in the Ant Cataglyphis cursor: Worker Aggressions Differentially Affect Male Access to Virgin Queens

Variation in male body size and reproductive allocation in the leafcutter ant Atta colombica: estimating variance components and possible trade-offs

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