Experimental increase of worker diversity benefits brood production in ants

dc.contributor.authorPsalti, Marina N.
dc.contributor.authorGohlke, Dustin
dc.contributor.authorLibbrecht, Romain
dc.date.accessioned2022-05-19T09:56:53Z
dc.date.available2022-05-19T09:56:53Z
dc.date.issued2021
dc.description.abstractBackground The reproductive division of labor of eusocial insects, whereby one or several queens monopolize reproduction, evolved in a context of high genetic relatedness. However, many extant eusocial species have developed strategies that decrease genetic relatedness in their colonies, suggesting some benefits of the increased diversity. Multiple studies support this hypothesis by showing positive correlations between genetic diversity and colony fitness, as well as finding effects of experimental manipulations of diversity on colony performance. However, alternative explanations could account for most of these reports, and the benefits of diversity on performance in eusocial insects still await validation. In this study, we experimentally increased worker diversity in small colonies of the ant Lasius niger while controlling for typical confounding factors. Results We found that experimental colonies composed of workers coming from three different source colonies produced more larvae and showed more variation in size compared to groups of workers coming from a single colony. Conclusions We propose that the benefits of increased diversity stemmed from an improved division of labor. Our study confirms that worker diversity enhances colony performance, thus providing a possible explanation for the evolution of multiply mated queens and multiple-queen colonies in many species of eusocial insects.en_GB
dc.identifier.doihttp://doi.org/10.25358/openscience-7002
dc.identifier.urihttps://openscience.ub.uni-mainz.de/handle/20.500.12030/7014
dc.language.isoengde
dc.rightsCC-BY-4.0*
dc.rights.urihttps://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/*
dc.subject.ddc570 Biowissenschaftende_DE
dc.subject.ddc570 Life sciencesen_GB
dc.titleExperimental increase of worker diversity benefits brood production in antsen_GB
dc.typeZeitschriftenaufsatzde
jgu.journal.titleBMC ecology and evolutionde
jgu.journal.volume21de
jgu.organisation.departmentFB 10 Biologiede
jgu.organisation.nameJohannes Gutenberg-Universität Mainz
jgu.organisation.number7970
jgu.organisation.placeMainz
jgu.organisation.rorhttps://ror.org/023b0x485
jgu.pages.alternative163de
jgu.publisher.doi10.1186/s12862-021-01890-xde
jgu.publisher.issn2730-7182de
jgu.publisher.nameBioMed Centralde
jgu.publisher.placeLondonde
jgu.publisher.year2021
jgu.rights.accessrightsopenAccess
jgu.subject.ddccode570de
jgu.type.dinitypeArticleen_GB
jgu.type.resourceTextde
jgu.type.versionPublished versionde

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