The interplay between genetic and environmental effects on colony insularity in the clonal invasive little fire ant Wasmannia auropunctata

Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology

Volumn 63, Issue 11, 2009, Pages 1667-1677

  Vonshak, Merav ^a   Dayan, Tamar ^a   Foucaud, Julien ^b   Estoup, Arnaud ^b   Hefetz, Abraham ^a  

^a TEL AVIV UNIVERSITY   (Israel)

^b INSTITUT DE RECHERCHE POUR LE DÉVELOPPEMENT   (France)

Author keywords

Cuticular hydrocarbons; Invasive species; Nestmate recognition; Wasmannia auropunctata

Indexed keywords

ANT; BIOLOGICAL INVASION; COLONY STRUCTURE; DIET; ENVIRONMENTAL CUE; ENVIRONMENTAL EFFECT; GENOTYPE; INTRASPECIFIC INTERACTION; INVASIVE SPECIES; NESTMATE RECOGNITION;

FORMICIDAE; WASMANNIA AUROPUNCTATA;

EID: 77952670374     PISSN: 03405443     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1007/s00265-009-0775-9     Document Type: Article

References (49)

1. Abbott KL (2005) Supercolonies of the invasive yellow crazy ant, Anoplolepis gracilipes, on an oceanic island: forager activity patterns, density and biomass. Insect Soc 52: 266-273.
2. Chapuisat M, Bernasconi C, Hoehn S, Reuter M (2005) Nestmate recognition in the unicolonial ant Formica paralugubris. Behav Ecol 16: 15-19.
3. Chen JSC, Nonacs P (2000) Nestmate recognition and intraspecific aggression based on environmental cues in Argentine ants (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). Ann Entomol Soc Am 93: 1333-1337.
4. Department of Primary Industries and Fisheries (DPI& F) (2006) Country or multicountry feature for distribution records for Wasmannia auropunctata. In: Invasive Species Specialist Group (ISSG) database. Available via DIALOG. http://www. issg. org/database/species/ecology. asp?fr=1& si=58. Accessed 10 Oct 2008.
5. Doyle JJ, Doyle JL (1987) A rapid DNA isolation procedure for small quantities of fresh leaf tissue. Phytochemistry Bull 19: 11-15.
6. Errard C, Delabie J, Jourdan H, Hefetz A (2005) Intercontinental chemical variation in the invasive ant Wasmannia auropunctata (Roger) (Hymenoptera Formicidae): a key to the invasive success of a tramp species. Naturwissenschaften 92: 319-223.
7. Foitzik S, Sturm H, Pusch K, D'ettorre P, Heinze J (2007) Nestmate recognition and intraspecific chemical and genetic variation in Temnothorax ants. Anim Behav 73: 999-1007.
8. Foucaud J, Jourdan H, Le Breton J, Loiseau A, Konghouleux D, Estoup A (2006) Rare sexual reproduction events in the clonal reproduction system of introduced populations of the little fire ant. Evol 60: 1646-1657.
9. Foucaud J, Fournier D, Orivel J, Delabie JHC, Loiseau A, Le Breton J, Kergoat GJ, Estoup A (2007) Sex and clonality in the little fire ant. Mol Biol Evol 24: 2465-2473.
10. Fournier D, Estoup A, Orivel J, Foucaud J, Jourdan H, Le Breton J, Keller L (2005a) Clonal reproduction by males and females in the little fire ant. Nature 435: 1230-1234.
11. Fournier D, Foucaud J, Loiseau A, Cros-Arteil S, Jourdan H, Orivel J, Le Breton J, Chazeau J, Dejean A, Kellers L, Estoup A (2005b) Characterization and PCR multiplexing of polymorphic microsatellite loci for the invasive ant Wasmannia auropunctata. Mol Ecol Notes 5: 239-242.
12. Giraud T, Pedersen JS, Keller L (2002) Evolution of supercolonies: the Argentine ants of Southern Europe. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 99: 6075-6079.
13. Goudet J (2001) FSTAT, a program to estimate and test gene diversities and fixation indices (version 2. 9. 3). Available from http://www. unil. ch/izea/softwares/fstat. html. Updated from Goudet (1995).
14. Hefetz A (2007) The evolution of hydrocarbon pheromone parsimony in ants (Hymenoptera: Formicidae)-interplay of colony odor uniformity and odor idiosyncrasy. A review. Myrmecological News 10: 59-68.
15. Heinze J, Foitzik S, Hippert A, Hölldobler B (1996) Apparent dear-enemy phenomenon and environment-based recognition cues in the ant Leptothorax nylanderi. Ethology 102: 510-522.
16. Hölldobler B, Wilson EO (1977) The number of queens: an important trait in ant evolution. Naturwissenschaften 64: 8-15.
17. Hölldobler B, Wilson EO (1990) The ants. The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, Cambridge.
18. Holway DA, Suarez AV (2004) Colony structure variation and interspecific competitive ability in the invasive Argentine ant. Oecologia 138: 216-222.
19. Holway DA, Suarez AV, Case TJ (1998) Loss of intraspecific aggression in the success of a widespread invasive social insect. Science 282: 949-952.
20. Holway DA, Lach L, Suarez AV, Tsutsui ND, Case TJ (2002) The causes and consequences of ant invasions. Annu Rev Ecol Syst 33: 181-234.
21. Holzer B, Chapuisat M, Kremer N, Finet C, Keller L (2006) Unicoloniality, recognition and genetic differentiation in a native Formica ant. J Evol Biol 19: 2031-2039.
22. Katzav-Gozansky T, Boulay R, Vander Meer R, Hefetz A (2004) In-nest environment modulates nestmate recognition in the ant Camponotus fellah. Naturwissenschaften 91: 186-190.
23. Lahav S, Soroker V, Vander Meer RK, Hefetz A (2001) Segregation of colony odor in the desert ant Cataglyphis niger. J Chem Ecol 27: 927-943.
24. Le Breton J, Delabie JHC, Chazeau J, Dejean A, Jourdan H (2004) Experimental evidence of large-scale unicoloniality in the tramp ant Wasmannia auropunctata (Roger). J Insect Behav 17: 263-271.
25. Le Conte Y, Hefetz A (2008) Primer pheromones in social hymenoptera. Annu Rev Entomol 53: 523-542.
26. Lenoir A, Hefetz A, Simon T, Soroker V (2001) Comparative dynamics of gestalt odour formation in two ant species Camponotus fellah and Aphaenogaster senilis (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). Physiol Entomol 26: 275-283.
27. Liang D, Silverman J (2000) "You are what you eat": diet modifies cuticular hydrocarbons and nestmate recognition in the Argentine ant, Linepithema humile. Naturwissenschaften 87: 412-416.
28. Marshall DR, Jain SK (1968) Phenotypic plasticity of Avena fatua and A. barbata. Am Nat 102: 457-467.
29. Martin SJ, Vitikainen E, Helantera H, Drijfhout FP (2008) Chemical basis of nest-mate discrimination in the ant Formica exsecta. Proc R Soc Lond B Biol Sci 275: 1271-1278.
30. Nielsen J, Boomsma JJ, Oldham NJ, Petersen HC, Morgan ED (1999) Colony-level and season-specific variation in cuticular hydrocarbon profiles of individual workers in the ant Formica truncorum. Insect Soc 46: 58-65.
31. Obin MS, Morel L, Vandermeer RK (1993) Unexpected, well-developed nestmate recognition in laboratory colonies of polygyne imported fire ants (Hymenoptera, Formicidae). J Insect Behav 6: 579-587.
32. Pamilo P (1985) Effect of inbreeding on genetic relatedness. Hereditas 103: 195-200.
33. Porter SD, Williams DF, Patterson RS, Fowler HG (1997) Intercontinental differences in the abundance of Solenopsis fire ants (Hymenoptera: Formicidae): escape from natural enemies? Environ Entomol 26: 373-384.
34. Richard FJ, Hefetz A, Christides JP, Errard C (2004) Food influence on colonial recognition and chemical signature between nestmates in the fungus-growing ant Acromyrmex subterraneus subterraneus. Chemoecology 14: 9-16.
35. Rosset H, Schwander T, Chapuisat M (2007) Nestmate recognition and levels of aggression are not altered by changes in genetic diversity in a socially polymorphic ant. Anim Behav 74: 951-956.
36. Sakai AK, Allendorf FW, Holt JS, Lodge DM, Molofsky J, With KA, Baughman S, Cabin RJ, Cohen JE, Ellstrand NC, Mccauley DE, O'neil P, Parker IM, Thompson JN, Weller SG (2001) The population biology of invasive species. Annu Rev Ecol Syst 32: 305-332.
37. Silverman J, Liang D (2001) Colony disassociation following diet partitioning in a unicolonial ant. Naturwissenschaften 88: 73-77.
38. Soroker V, Vienne C, Hefetz A (1995) Hydrocarbon dynamics within and between nestmates in Cataglyphis niger (Hymenoptera, Formicidae). J Chem Ecol 21: 365-378.
39. Sorvari J, Theodora P, Turillazzi S, Hakkarainen H, Sundstrom L (2008) Food resources, chemical signaling, and nest mate recognition in the ant Formica aquilonia. Behav Ecol 19: 441-447.
40. Steiner F, Schlick-Steiner B, Moder K, Stauffer C, Arthofer W, Buschinger A, Espadaler X, Erhard C, Einfinger K, Lorbeer E, Schafellner C, Ayasse M, Crozier RH (2007) Abandoning aggression but maintaining self-nonself discrimination as a first stage in ant supercolony formation. Curr Biol. doi: 10. 1016/j. cub. 2007. 09. 061.
41. Stuart RJ, Herbers JM (2000) Nest mate recognition in ants with complex colonies: within- and between-population variation. Behav Ecol 11: 676-685.
42. Suarez AV, Tsutsui ND, Holway DA, Case TJ (1999) Behavioral and genetic differentiation between native and introduced populations of the Argentine ant. Biol Invasions 1: 43-53.
43. Thomas ML, Payne-Makrisa CM, Suarez AV, Tsutsui ND, Holway DA (2006) When supercolonies collide: territorial aggression in an invasive and unicolonial social insect. Mol Ecol 15: 4303-4315.
44. Tschinkel WR (2006) The fire ants. Belknap Press/Harvard University Press, Cambridge.
45. Tsutsui ND, Suarez AV, Holway DA, Case TJ (2000) Reduced genetic variation and the success of an invasive species. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 97: 5948-5953.
46. van Wilgenburg E, Dang S, Forti AL, Koumoundouros TJ, Ly A, Elgar MA (2007) An absence of aggression between non-nestmates in the bull ant Myrmecia nigriceps. Naturwissenschaften 94: 787-790.
47. Weir BS, Cockerham CC (1984) Estimating F-statistics for the analysis of population structure. Evol 38: 1358-1370.
48. Wetterer JK, Porter SD (2003) The little fire ant, Wasmannia auropunctata: distribution, impact, and control. Sociobiology 42: 1-41.
49. Zinck L, Hora RR, Chaline N, Jaisson P (2008) Low intraspecific aggression level in the polydomous and facultative polygynous Ant Ectatomma tuberculatum. Entomol Exp Appl 126: 211-216.