Workers of Acromyrmex echinatior leafcutter ants police worker-laid eggs, but not reproductive workers
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Workers of Acromyrmex echinatior leafcutter ants police worker-laid eggs, but not reproductive workers. / Dijkstra, Michiel B.; van Zweden, Jelle Stijn; Dirchsen, Maria; Boomsma, Jacobus Jan.
In: Animal Behaviour, Vol. 80, No. 3, 2010, p. 487-495.Research output: Contribution to journal › Journal article › Research › peer-review
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T1 - Workers of Acromyrmex echinatior leafcutter ants police worker-laid eggs, but not reproductive workers
AU - Dijkstra, Michiel B.
AU - van Zweden, Jelle Stijn
AU - Dirchsen, Maria
AU - Boomsma, Jacobus Jan
PY - 2010
Y1 - 2010
N2 - Nonreproductive workers of many eusocial Hymenoptera 'police' the colony, that is, they attack reproductive sister workers or destroy their eggs (unfertilized; developing into haploid males). Several ultimate causes of policing have been proposed, including (1) an increase in colony productivity, applicable if reproductive workers work less, or (2) an increase in worker-to-male relatedness, applicable if within-colony relatedness is low. To explain the distribution of policing across taxa, the explanatory power of these and other potential ultimate causes should be assessed separately. One of the few species for which this can be done is the leafcutter ant Acromyrmex echinatior. We previously demonstrated that colony productivity incentives (and sex ratio incentives) are minimal here, while relatedness incentives are strong because queens are highly multiply mated. Overcoming technical difficulties peculiar to leafcutter ants, we introduced reproductive versus nonreproductive workers and batches of queen-laid versus worker-laid eggs into experimental colony fragments and observed their fate. Our main finding was that workers policed by selectively destroying worker-laid eggs, but without attacking reproductive workers. We infer that relatedness incentives are the most likely ultimate cause of the evolutionary maintenance of worker-egg policing in A. echinatior. (C) 2010 The Association for the Study of Animal Behaviour. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved
AB - Nonreproductive workers of many eusocial Hymenoptera 'police' the colony, that is, they attack reproductive sister workers or destroy their eggs (unfertilized; developing into haploid males). Several ultimate causes of policing have been proposed, including (1) an increase in colony productivity, applicable if reproductive workers work less, or (2) an increase in worker-to-male relatedness, applicable if within-colony relatedness is low. To explain the distribution of policing across taxa, the explanatory power of these and other potential ultimate causes should be assessed separately. One of the few species for which this can be done is the leafcutter ant Acromyrmex echinatior. We previously demonstrated that colony productivity incentives (and sex ratio incentives) are minimal here, while relatedness incentives are strong because queens are highly multiply mated. Overcoming technical difficulties peculiar to leafcutter ants, we introduced reproductive versus nonreproductive workers and batches of queen-laid versus worker-laid eggs into experimental colony fragments and observed their fate. Our main finding was that workers policed by selectively destroying worker-laid eggs, but without attacking reproductive workers. We infer that relatedness incentives are the most likely ultimate cause of the evolutionary maintenance of worker-egg policing in A. echinatior. (C) 2010 The Association for the Study of Animal Behaviour. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved
KW - Acromyrmex echinatior
KW - cost of worker reproduction
KW - leafcutter ant
KW - multiple queen mating
KW - reproductive self-restraint
KW - worker policing
KW - FUNGUS-GROWING ANTS
KW - APIS-MELLIFERA-CAPENSIS
KW - EUSOCIAL HYMENOPTERA
KW - INSECT SOCIETIES
KW - SOCIAL INSECTS
KW - MALE PARENTAGE
KW - SEX-ALLOCATION
KW - FORMICA-FUSCA
KW - COLONY SIZE
KW - CLONAL ANT
U2 - 10.1016/j.anbehav.2010.06.011
DO - 10.1016/j.anbehav.2010.06.011
M3 - Journal article
VL - 80
SP - 487
EP - 495
JO - Animal Behaviour
JF - Animal Behaviour
SN - 0003-3472
IS - 3
ER -
ID: 34349847