Alternative reproductive tactics and the impact of local competition on sex ratios in the ant Hypoponera opacior |
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Authors: | Susanne Foitzik Ilka Maria Kureck Markus Hannes Rüger Dirk Metzler |
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Institution: | 1. Department Biology II, Behavioural Ecology, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universit?t München, Grosshadernerstr. 2, 82152, Planegg-Martinsried, Germany
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Abstract: | The ant Hypoponera opacior exhibits alternative reproductive morphs of males and females associated with distinct sexual behaviours. Our long-term study
reports strong seasonality in sexual production with a mating season in early and one in late summer. Winged (alate) reproductives
emerge in June, swarm during the monsoon season and establish new colonies independently. In contrast, wingless worker-like
(ergatoid) reproductives that appear in late August mate within their natal or adjacent nests and either do not disperse or
establish new nests close by. These divergent dispersal patterns allowed us to analyse the impact of local factors on investment
strategies by comparing sex allocation between and within the two reproductive events. The optimal sex ratio for ergatoid
reproductives should be influenced both by competition for matings between brothers (local mate competition) and rivalry among
young locally dispersing queens for workers, nest sites or food (local resource competition). The greater importance of local
resource competition was demonstrated both by a male-biased sex ratio for wingless sexuals and a stronger increase in the
number of males with total sexual production than for the number of queens. Microsatellite analysis revealed that inter-nest
variation in relatedness asymmetry cannot explain split sex ratios in the August generation. Instead, nests with related ergatoid
males raised a male-biased sex ratio contrary to the expectations under local mate competition. In conclusion, male bias in
wingless H. opacior indicates that local mate competition is less strong than local resource competition among ergatoid queens over the help
of workers during nest foundation. |
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