Primary sex ratio adjustment by ant queens in response to local mate competition

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Standard

Primary sex ratio adjustment by ant queens in response to local mate competition. / de Menten, Ludivine; Cremer, Sylvia; Heinze, Jürgen; Aron, Serge.

In: Animal Behaviour, Vol. 69, No. 5, 2005, p. 1031-1035.

Research output: Contribution to journal › Journal article › Research › peer-review

Harvard

de Menten, L, Cremer, S, Heinze, J & Aron, S 2005, 'Primary sex ratio adjustment by ant queens in response to local mate competition', Animal Behaviour, vol. 69, no. 5, pp. 1031-1035. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.anbehav.2004.09.005

APA

de Menten, L., Cremer, S., Heinze, J., & Aron, S. (2005). Primary sex ratio adjustment by ant queens in response to local mate competition. Animal Behaviour, 69(5), 1031-1035. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.anbehav.2004.09.005

Vancouver

de Menten L, Cremer S, Heinze J, Aron S. Primary sex ratio adjustment by ant queens in response to local mate competition. Animal Behaviour. 2005;69(5):1031-1035. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.anbehav.2004.09.005

Author

de Menten, Ludivine ; Cremer, Sylvia ; Heinze, Jürgen ; Aron, Serge. / Primary sex ratio adjustment by ant queens in response to local mate competition. In: Animal Behaviour. 2005 ; Vol. 69, No. 5. pp. 1031-1035.

Bibtex

@article{fe32ef7074c211dbbee902004c4f4f50,
title = "Primary sex ratio adjustment by ant queens in response to local mate competition",
abstract = "In the ant Cardiocondyla obscurior, wingless males compete with nestmate males for access to female mating partners, leading to local mate competition (LMC). Queen number varies between colonies, resulting in variation in the strength of LMC. Cremer & Heinze (2002, Proceedings of the Royal Society of London, Series B, 269, 417-422) showed that colonies responded to increasing queen number by producing a less female-biased sex ratio, as predicted by LMC theory. However, the proximate mechanisms responsible for this variation in the sex ratio could not be determined because the study was restricted to adult sex ratios. With LMC, the primary sex ratio (proportion of haploid eggs laid by the queen) is expected to be female biased, which lowers the conflict between queens and workers over sex allocation. We compared the primary sex ratios laid by queens in monogynous and in polygynous experimental colonies of C. obscurior. The proportion of haploid eggs laid by queens was significantly lower in single-queen than in multiple-queen colonies. Furthermore, queens rapidly adjusted their primary sex ratios to changes in colony queen number. This is the first report of an adaptive adjustment of the primary sex ratio in response to LMC by ant queens.",
author = "{de Menten}, Ludivine and Sylvia Cremer and J{\"u}rgen Heinze and Serge Aron",
year = "2005",
doi = "10.1016/j.anbehav.2004.09.005",
language = "English",
volume = "69",
pages = "1031--1035",
journal = "Animal Behaviour",
issn = "0003-3472",
publisher = "Elsevier",
number = "5",

}

RIS

TY - JOUR

T1 - Primary sex ratio adjustment by ant queens in response to local mate competition

AU - de Menten, Ludivine

AU - Cremer, Sylvia

AU - Heinze, Jürgen

AU - Aron, Serge

PY - 2005

Y1 - 2005

N2 - In the ant Cardiocondyla obscurior, wingless males compete with nestmate males for access to female mating partners, leading to local mate competition (LMC). Queen number varies between colonies, resulting in variation in the strength of LMC. Cremer & Heinze (2002, Proceedings of the Royal Society of London, Series B, 269, 417-422) showed that colonies responded to increasing queen number by producing a less female-biased sex ratio, as predicted by LMC theory. However, the proximate mechanisms responsible for this variation in the sex ratio could not be determined because the study was restricted to adult sex ratios. With LMC, the primary sex ratio (proportion of haploid eggs laid by the queen) is expected to be female biased, which lowers the conflict between queens and workers over sex allocation. We compared the primary sex ratios laid by queens in monogynous and in polygynous experimental colonies of C. obscurior. The proportion of haploid eggs laid by queens was significantly lower in single-queen than in multiple-queen colonies. Furthermore, queens rapidly adjusted their primary sex ratios to changes in colony queen number. This is the first report of an adaptive adjustment of the primary sex ratio in response to LMC by ant queens.

AB - In the ant Cardiocondyla obscurior, wingless males compete with nestmate males for access to female mating partners, leading to local mate competition (LMC). Queen number varies between colonies, resulting in variation in the strength of LMC. Cremer & Heinze (2002, Proceedings of the Royal Society of London, Series B, 269, 417-422) showed that colonies responded to increasing queen number by producing a less female-biased sex ratio, as predicted by LMC theory. However, the proximate mechanisms responsible for this variation in the sex ratio could not be determined because the study was restricted to adult sex ratios. With LMC, the primary sex ratio (proportion of haploid eggs laid by the queen) is expected to be female biased, which lowers the conflict between queens and workers over sex allocation. We compared the primary sex ratios laid by queens in monogynous and in polygynous experimental colonies of C. obscurior. The proportion of haploid eggs laid by queens was significantly lower in single-queen than in multiple-queen colonies. Furthermore, queens rapidly adjusted their primary sex ratios to changes in colony queen number. This is the first report of an adaptive adjustment of the primary sex ratio in response to LMC by ant queens.

U2 - 10.1016/j.anbehav.2004.09.005

DO - 10.1016/j.anbehav.2004.09.005

M3 - Journal article

VL - 69

SP - 1031

EP - 1035

JO - Animal Behaviour

JF - Animal Behaviour

SN - 0003-3472

IS - 5

ER -

ID: 85479