Bidirectional shifts in colony queen number in a socially polymorphic ant population.

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Version: Final published version
Serval ID
serval:BIB_62DA013E8255
Type
Article: article from journal or magazin.
Collection
Publications
Institution
Title
Bidirectional shifts in colony queen number in a socially polymorphic ant population.
Journal
Evolution
Author(s)
Purcell J., Chapuisat M.
ISSN
1558-5646 (Electronic)
ISSN-L
0014-3820
Publication state
Published
Issued date
2013
Peer-reviewed
Oui
Volume
67
Number
4
Pages
1169-1180
Language
english
Abstract
The breeding system of social organisms affects many important aspects of social life. Some species vary greatly in the number of breeders per group, but the mechanisms and selective pressures contributing to the maintenance of this polymorphism in social structure remain poorly understood. Here, we take advantage of a genetic dataset that spans 15 years to investigate the dynamics of colony queen number within a socially polymorphic ant species. Our study population of Formica selysi has single- and multiple-queen colonies. We found that the social structure of this species is somewhat flexible: on average, each year 3.2% of the single-queen colonies became polygynous, and conversely 1.4% of the multiple-queen colonies became monogynous. The annualized queen replacement rates were 10.3% and 11.9% for single- and multiple-queen colonies, respectively. New queens were often but not always related to previous colony members. At the population level, the social polymorphism appeared stable. There was no genetic differentiation between single- and multiple-queen colonies at eight microsatellite loci, suggesting ongoing gene flow between social forms. Overall, the regular and bidirectional changes in queen number indicate that social structure is a labile trait in F. selysi, with neither form being favored within a time-frame of 15 years.
Keywords
Formicinae, hymenoptera, monogyny, parentage analysis, phenotypic plasticity, polygyny, social evolution
Pubmed
Web of science
Open Access
Yes
Create date
09/09/2012 16:46
Last modification date
20/08/2019 14:19
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