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Resource allocation in the red ant Myrmica ruginodis – an interplay of genetics and ecology
Author(s) -
Walin L.,
Seppä P.
Publication year - 2001
Publication title -
journal of evolutionary biology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.289
H-Index - 128
eISSN - 1420-9101
pISSN - 1010-061X
DOI - 10.1046/j.1420-9101.2001.00332.x
Subject(s) - biology , sex allocation , biological dispersal , polygyny , sex ratio , ecology , population , reproduction , competition (biology) , ant , queen (butterfly) , kin selection , resource allocation , zoology , demography , hymenoptera , sociology , computer network , computer science
Worker‐queen conflicts over reproductive allocation (colony maintenance vs. reproduction) and sex allocation (females vs. males) were examined in two populations of the facultatively polygynous ant Myrmica ruginodis . Plasticity of social organization in the form of two co‐existing social types ( microgyna and macrogyna ) has a profound effect on reproductive allocation. Workers control sex allocation by biasing sex ratios towards their own interest, but local resource competition (LRC) because of restricted dispersal of microgyna females resulted in male bias in one study population. Colony sex ratios were split and followed the predictions of the split sex ratio theory: single queen colonies with higher relatedness asymmetry (RA) produced more females than multiple queen colonies with lower RA. Single and multiple queen colonies showed similar patterns in most aspects of their reproduction, and reproductive allocation could not be explained by the hypothesis tested. This suggests that reproductive allocation conflict is of minor importance in M. ruginodis .