Behavioral plasticity in ant queens: environmental manipulation induces aggression among normally peaceful queens in the socially polymorphic ant Leptothorax acervorum.
The behavioral traits that shape the structure of animal societies vary considerably among species but appear to be less flexible within species or at least within populations. Populations of the ant Leptothorax acervorum differ in how queens interact with other queens. Nestmate queens from extended...
| Main Authors: | , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Public Library of Science (PLoS)
2014-01-01
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| Series: | PLoS ONE |
| Online Access: | http://europepmc.org/articles/PMC3990625?pdf=render |
| _version_ | 1818290931624837120 |
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| author | Jürgen Trettin Thomas Seyferth Jürgen Heinze |
| author_facet | Jürgen Trettin Thomas Seyferth Jürgen Heinze |
| author_sort | Jürgen Trettin |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | The behavioral traits that shape the structure of animal societies vary considerably among species but appear to be less flexible within species or at least within populations. Populations of the ant Leptothorax acervorum differ in how queens interact with other queens. Nestmate queens from extended, homogeneous habitats tolerate each other and contribute quite equally to the offspring of the colony (polygyny: low reproductive skew). In contrast, nestmate queens from patchy habitats establish social hierarchies by biting and antennal boxing, and eventually only the top-ranking queen of the colony lays eggs (functional monogyny: high reproductive skew). Here we investigate whether queen-queen behavior is fixed within populations or whether aggression and high skew can be elicited by manipulation of socio-environmental factors in colonies from low skew populations. An increase of queen/worker ratio and to a lesser extent food limitation elicited queen-queen antagonism in polygynous colonies from Nürnberger Reichswald similar to that underlying social and reproductive hierarchies in high-skew populations from Spain, Japan, and Alaska. In manipulated colonies, queens differed more in ovarian status than in control colonies. This indicates that queens are in principle capable of adapting the magnitude of reproductive skew to environmental changes in behavioral rather than evolutionary time. |
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| id | doaj.art-d60e889fff6541848f4e18ddc66f8121 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1932-6203 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-13T02:36:01Z |
| publishDate | 2014-01-01 |
| publisher | Public Library of Science (PLoS) |
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| series | PLoS ONE |
| spelling | doaj.art-d60e889fff6541848f4e18ddc66f81212022-12-22T00:02:24ZengPublic Library of Science (PLoS)PLoS ONE1932-62032014-01-0194e9515310.1371/journal.pone.0095153Behavioral plasticity in ant queens: environmental manipulation induces aggression among normally peaceful queens in the socially polymorphic ant Leptothorax acervorum.Jürgen TrettinThomas SeyferthJürgen HeinzeThe behavioral traits that shape the structure of animal societies vary considerably among species but appear to be less flexible within species or at least within populations. Populations of the ant Leptothorax acervorum differ in how queens interact with other queens. Nestmate queens from extended, homogeneous habitats tolerate each other and contribute quite equally to the offspring of the colony (polygyny: low reproductive skew). In contrast, nestmate queens from patchy habitats establish social hierarchies by biting and antennal boxing, and eventually only the top-ranking queen of the colony lays eggs (functional monogyny: high reproductive skew). Here we investigate whether queen-queen behavior is fixed within populations or whether aggression and high skew can be elicited by manipulation of socio-environmental factors in colonies from low skew populations. An increase of queen/worker ratio and to a lesser extent food limitation elicited queen-queen antagonism in polygynous colonies from Nürnberger Reichswald similar to that underlying social and reproductive hierarchies in high-skew populations from Spain, Japan, and Alaska. In manipulated colonies, queens differed more in ovarian status than in control colonies. This indicates that queens are in principle capable of adapting the magnitude of reproductive skew to environmental changes in behavioral rather than evolutionary time.http://europepmc.org/articles/PMC3990625?pdf=render |
| spellingShingle | Jürgen Trettin Thomas Seyferth Jürgen Heinze Behavioral plasticity in ant queens: environmental manipulation induces aggression among normally peaceful queens in the socially polymorphic ant Leptothorax acervorum. PLoS ONE |
| title | Behavioral plasticity in ant queens: environmental manipulation induces aggression among normally peaceful queens in the socially polymorphic ant Leptothorax acervorum. |
| title_full | Behavioral plasticity in ant queens: environmental manipulation induces aggression among normally peaceful queens in the socially polymorphic ant Leptothorax acervorum. |
| title_fullStr | Behavioral plasticity in ant queens: environmental manipulation induces aggression among normally peaceful queens in the socially polymorphic ant Leptothorax acervorum. |
| title_full_unstemmed | Behavioral plasticity in ant queens: environmental manipulation induces aggression among normally peaceful queens in the socially polymorphic ant Leptothorax acervorum. |
| title_short | Behavioral plasticity in ant queens: environmental manipulation induces aggression among normally peaceful queens in the socially polymorphic ant Leptothorax acervorum. |
| title_sort | behavioral plasticity in ant queens environmental manipulation induces aggression among normally peaceful queens in the socially polymorphic ant leptothorax acervorum |
| url | http://europepmc.org/articles/PMC3990625?pdf=render |
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