Patterns of split sex ratio in ants have multiple evolutionary causes based on different within-colony conflicts

Biology Letters

Volumn 5, Issue 5, 2009, Pages 713-716

  Kümmerli, Rolf ^a   Keller, Laurent ^b  

^a UNIVERSITY OF EDINBURGH   (United Kingdom)

^b UNIVERSITY OF LAUSANNE   (Switzerland)

Author keywords

Colony kin structure; Control over sex ratio; Reproductive conflict; Sex allocation; Social insects

Indexed keywords

ANT; KIN RECOGNITION; QUEEN; SEX ALLOCATION; SEX RATIO; SEXUAL CONFLICT; SOCIAL INSECT; SPECIALIZATION;

ANT; ARTICLE; FEMALE; HYMENOPTERA; KIN SELECTION; MALE; NONHUMAN; PRIORITY JOURNAL; QUEEN (INSECT); REPRODUCTION; SEX ALLOCATION; SEX RATIO; WORKER (INSECT);

FORMICIDAE; HEXAPODA; HYMENOPTERA;

EID: 70349267604     PISSN: 17449561     EISSN: 1744957X     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1098/rsbl.2009.0295     Document Type: Article

References (40)

1. Beekman, M. & Ratnieks, F. L. W. 2003 Power over reproduction in social Hymenoptera. Phil. Trans. R. Soc. Lond. B 358, 1741-1753. (doi:10.1098/rstb.2002.1262)
2. Boomsma, J. J. 1991 Adaptive colony sex ratios in primitively eusocial bees. Trends Ecol. Evol. 6, 92-95. (doi:10.1016/0169-5347(91)90182-W)
3. Boomsma, J. J. & Grafen, A. 1991 Colony-level sex ratio selection in the eusocial Hymenoptera. J. Evol. Biol. 4, 383-407. (doi:10.1046/j.1420-9101. 1991.4030383.x)
4. Bourke, A. F. G. 2005 Genetics, relatedness and social behaviour in insect societies. In Insect evolutionary ecology: Proceedings of the Royal Entomological Society's 22nd Symposium (eds M. D. E. Fellowes, G. J. Holloway & J. Rolff), pp. 1-30. Oxford, UK: CABI Publishing.
5. Bourke, A. F. G. & Franks, N. R. 1995 Social evolution in ants. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
6. Brown, W. D. & Keller, L. 2000 Colony sex ratios vary with queen number but not relatedness asymmetry in the ant Formica exsecta. Proc. R. Soc. Lond. B 267, 1751-1757. (doi:10.1098/rspb.2000.1206)
7. Brown, W. D. & Keller, L. 2002 Queen recruitment and split sex ratios in polygynous colonies of the wood ant Formica exsecta. Ecol. Lett. 5, 102-109. (doi:10.1046/j.1461-0248.2002.00291.x)
8. Chan, G. L. & Bourke, A. F. G. 1994 Split sex ratios in a multiple-queen ant population. Proc. R. Soc. Lond. B 258, 261-266. (doi:10.1098/rspb.1994.0171)
9. Chapuisat, M. & Keller, L. 1999 Testing kin selection with sex allocation data in eusocial Hymenoptera. Heredity 82, 473-478.
10. de Menten, L., Fournier, D., Brent, C., Passera, L., Vargo, E. L. & Aron, S. 2005 Dual mechanism of queen influence over sex ratio in the ant Pheidole pallidula. Behav. Ecol. Sociobiol. 58, 527-533. (doi:10.1007/s00265- 005-0964-0)
11. Evans, J. D. 1995 Relatedness threshold for the production of female sexuals in colonies of a polygynous ant, Myrmica tahoensis, as revealed by microsatellite DNA analysis. Proc. Natl Acad. Sci. USA 92, 6514-6517. (doi:10.1073/pnas.92.14.6514)
12. Fournier, D., Keller, L., Passera, L. & Aron, S. 2003 Colony sex ratios vary with breeding system but not relatedness asymmetry in the facultatively polygynous ant. Pheidole pallidula. Evolution 57, 1336-1342.
13. Frank, S. A. 1987 Variable sex ratio among colonies of ants. Behav. Ecol. Sociobiol. 20, 195-201. (doi:10.1007/BF00299733)
14. Hammond, R. L., Bruford, M. W. & Bourke, A. F. G. 2002 Ant workers selfishly bias sex ratios by manipulating female development. Proc. R. Soc. Lond. B 269, 173-178. (doi:10.1098/rspb.2001.1860)
15. Helms, K. R. 1999 Colony sex ratios, conflict between queens and workers, and apparent queen control in the ant Pheidole desertorum. Evolution 53, 1470-1478. (doi:10.2307/2640893)
16. Helms, K., Fewell, J. & Rissing, S. 2000 Sex ratio determination by queens and workers in the ant Pheidole desertorum. Anim. Behav. 59, 523-527. (doi:10.1006/anbe.1999.1343)
17. Kümmerli, R. & Keller, L. 2008 Reproductive parameters vary with social and ecological factors in the polygynous ant Formica exsecta. Oikos 117, 580-590. (doi:10.1111/j.2007.0030-1299.16207.x)
18. Kümmerli, R., Helms, K. R. & Keller, L. 2005 Experimental manipulation of queen number affects colony sex ratio investment in the highly polygynous ant Formica exsecta. Proc. R. Soc. Lond. B 272, 1789-1794. (doi:10.1098/rspb.2005.3163)
19. Mehdiabadi, N. J., Reeve, H. K. & Mueller, U. G. 2003 Queens versus workers: sex-ratio conflict in eusocial Hymenopera. Trends Ecol. Evol. 18, 88-93. (doi:10.1016/S0169-5347(02)00056-3)
20. Meunier, J., West, S. A. & Chapuisat, M. 2008 Split sex ratios in the social Hymenoptera: a meta-analysis. Behav. Ecol. 19, 382-390. (doi:10.1093/beheco/arm143)
21. Nonacs, P. 1986 Ant reproductive strategies and sex allocation theory. Q. Rev. Biol. 61, 1-21. (doi:10.1086/414723)
22. Nonacs, P. & Carlin, N. F. 1990 When can ants discriminate the sex of brood? A new aspect of queen-worker conflict. Proc. Natl Acad. Sci. USA 87, 9670-9673. (doi:10.1073/pnas.87.24.9670)
23. Pamilo, P. 1982 Genetic evolution of sex ratios in eusocial Hymenoptera: allele frequency simulations. Am. Nat. 119, 638-656. (doi:10.1086/283940)
24. Passera, L., Aron, S., Vargo, E. L. & Keller, L. 2001 Queen control of sex ratio in fire ants. Science 293, 1308-1310. (doi:10.1126/science.1062076)
25. Queller, D. C. 1993 Genetic relatedness and its components in polygynous colonies of social insects. In Queen number and sociality in insects (ed. L. Keller), pp. 132-152. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.
26. Queller, D. C. & Strassmann, J. E. 1998 Kin selection and social insects. Bioscience 48, 165-175. (doi:10.2307/1313262)
27. Reece, S. E., Shuker, D. M., Pen, I., Duncan, A. B., Choudhary, A., Batchelor, C. M. & West, S. A. 2004 Kin discrimination and sex ratios in a parasitoid wasp. J. Evol. Biol. 17, 208-216. (doi:10.1046/j.1420-9101.2003. 00640.x)
28. Reuter, M. & Keller, L. 2001 Sex ratio conflict and worker production in eusocial Hymenoptera. Am. Nat. 158, 166-177. (doi:10.1086/321311)
29. Reuter, M., Helms, K. R., Lehmann, L. & Keller, L. 2004 Effects of brood manipulation costs on optimal sex allocation in social Hymenoptera. Am. Nat. 164, E73-E82. (doi:10.1086/422659)
30. Roisin, Y. & Aron, S. 2003 Split sex ratios in perennial social hymenoptera: a mixed evolutionary stable strategy from the queens' perspective? Am. Nat. 162, 624-637. (doi:10.1086/378704)
31. Rosenheim, J. A., Nonacs, P. & Mangel, M. 1996 Sex ratio and multifaceted parental investment. Am. Nat. 148, 501-535. (doi:10.1086/285937)
32. Rosset, H. & Chapuisat, M. 2006 Sex allocation conflict in ants: when the queen rules. Curr. Biol. 16, 328-331. (doi:10.1016/j.cub.2005.12.036)
33. Schwander, T., Humbert, J.-Y., Brent, C. S., Cahan, S. H., Chapuis, L., Renai, E. & Keller, L. 2008 Maternal effect on female caste determination in a social insect. Curr. Biol. 18, 265-269. (doi:10.1016/j.cub.2008.01.024)
34. Sundström, L. 1994 Sex ratio bias, relatedness asymmetry and queen mating frequency in ants. Nature 367, 266-268. (doi:10.1038/367266a0)
35. Sundström, L., Chapuisat, M. & Keller, L. 1996 Conditional manipulation of sex ratios by ant workers: a test of kin selection theory. Science 274, 993-995. (doi:10.1126/science.274.5289.993)
36. Suzzoni, J. P., Passera, L. & Strambi, A. 1980 Ecdysteroid titre and caste determination in the ant, Pheidole pallidula (Nyl.) (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). Experientia 36, 1228-1229. (doi:10.1007/BF01976144)
37. Trivers, R. L. & Hare, H. 1976 Haplodiploidy and the evolution of the social insects. Science 191, 249-263. (doi:10.1126/science.1108197)
38. Vargo, E. L. 1996 Sex investment ratios in monogyne and polygyne populations of the fire ant Solenopsis invicta. J. Evol. Biol. 9, 783-802. (doi:10.1046/j.1420-9101.1996.9060783.x)
39. Walin, L. & Seppä, P. 2001 Resource allocation in the red ant Myrmica ruginodis: an interplay of genetics and ecology. J. Evol. Biol. 14, 694-707. (doi:10.1046/j.1420-9101.2001.00332.x)
40. West, S. A. 2009 Sex allocation. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.