Premium
Social influence on age and reproduction: reduced lifespan and fecundity in multi‐queen ant colonies
Author(s) -
SCHREMPF A.,
CREMER S.,
HEINZE J.
Publication year - 2011
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 - 10.1111/j.1420-9101.2011.02278.x
Subject(s) - fecundity , biology , longevity , queen (butterfly) , nest (protein structural motif) , life span , reproduction , ecology , ephemeral key , zoology , ant , hymenoptera , demography , evolutionary biology , population , biochemistry , genetics , sociology
Evolutionary theories of ageing predict that life span increases with decreasing extrinsic mortality, and life span variation among queens in ant species seems to corroborate this prediction: queens, which are the only reproductive in a colony, live much longer than queens in multi‐queen colonies. The latter often inhabit ephemeral nest sites and accordingly are assumed to experience a higher mortality risk. Yet, all prior studies compared queens from different single‐ and multi‐queen species. Here, we demonstrate an effect of queen number on longevity and fecundity within a single, socially plastic species, where queens experience the similar level of extrinsic mortality. Queens from single‐ and two‐queen colonies had significantly longer lifespan and higher fecundity than queens living in associations of eight queens. As queens also differ neither in morphology nor the mode of colony foundation, our study shows that the social environment itself strongly affects ageing rate.