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Fecundity determines the outcome of founding queen associations in ants.

ABSTRACT: Animal cooperation evolved because of its benefits to the cooperators. Pleometrosis in ants-the cooperation of queens to found a colony-benefits colony growth, but also incurs costs for some of the cooperators because only one queen usually survives the association. While several traits in queens influence queen survival, they tend to be confounded and it is unclear which factor specifically determines the outcome of pleometrosis. In this study, we used the ant Lasius niger to monitor offspring production in colonies founded by one or two queens. Then, we experimentally paired queens that differed in fecundity but not in size, and vice versa, to disentangle the effect of these factors on queen survival. Finally, we investigated how fecundity and size differed between queens depending on whether they were chosen as pleometrotic partners. Our results indicate that pleometrosis increased and accelerated worker production via a nutritional boost to the larvae. The most fecund queens more frequently survived the associations, even when controlling for size and worker parentage, and queens selected as pleometrotic partners were less fecund. Our results are consistent with fecundity being central to the onset and outcome of pleometrosis, a classic example of cooperation among unrelated animals.

SUBMITTER: Teggers EM

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7862224 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Fecundity determines the outcome of founding queen associations in ants.

Teggers Eva-Maria EM Deegener Falk F Libbrecht Romain R

Scientific reports 20210204 1

Animal cooperation evolved because of its benefits to the cooperators. Pleometrosis in ants-the cooperation of queens to found a colony-benefits colony growth, but also incurs costs for some of the cooperators because only one queen usually survives the association. While several traits in queens influence queen survival, they tend to be confounded and it is unclear which factor specifically determines the outcome of pleometrosis. In this study, we used the ant Lasius niger to monitor offspring ...[more]

PMID: 33542354

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Project description:BACKGROUND:The division of reproductive labor among group members in insect societies is regulated by "queen pheromones". However, it remains controversial whether these are manipulative, i.e., actively suppress worker reproduction, or honestly signal the fertility status of the queen to which workers react in their own interest by refraining from laying eggs. Manipulative queen control is thought to lead to an evolutionary arms race between queens and workers, resulting in complex queen bouquets that diverge strongly among different populations and species. In contrast, honest signals would evolve more slowly and might therefore differ less strongly within and among species. RESULTS:We aimed at determining the tempo of the evolution of queen signals in two ways. First, we investigated whether queens of Temnothorax ants are capable of controlling egg laying by workers of their own, closely, and distantly related species. Second, we compared the species- and caste-specific patterns of cuticular hydrocarbons, which are assumed to convey information on reproductive status. In mixed-species colonies, queens were not able to fully suppress egg-laying and male production by workers of unrelated species, while workers did not reproduce under the influence of a queen from their own species. Furthermore, the chemical profiles differed more strongly among queens of different species than among the respective workers. CONCLUSIONS:Our results suggest that cuticular hydrocarbons associated with fecundity are not fully conserved in evolution and evolve slightly faster than worker-specific components in the blend of cuticular hydrocarbons. While this higher rate of evolution might reflect an arms race between queens and workers, the observation that workers still respond to the presence of a queen from another species support the honest signal hypothesis. Future studies need to examine alternative explanations for a higher rate of evolution of queen-specific substances, such as an involvement of such compounds in mating.

Dataset Information

Fecundity determines the outcome of founding queen associations in ants.

Publications

Fecundity determines the outcome of founding queen associations in ants.

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