Linked Life Data

11831664

Source:http://linkedlifedata.com/resource/pubmed/id/11831664

Statements in which the resource exists as a subject.
PredicateObject
rdf:type
lifeskim:mentions
pubmed:issue
12
pubmed:dateCreated
2002-2-7
pubmed:abstractText
Ecological constraints on effective dispersal have been suggested to be a key factor influencing social evolution in animal societies as well as the shift from single queen colonies (monogyny) to multiple queen colonies (polygyny) in ants. However, little is known about the effective dispersal patterns of ant queens. Here we investigate the microgeographic genetic structure of mitochondrial haplotypes in polygynous populations of the ant Formica exsecta, both between pastures and among nests within pastures. An analysis of molecular variance revealed a very high genetic differentiation (phiST = 0.72) between pastures, indicating that queens rarely disperse successfully between pastures, despite the fact that pastures were sometimes as close as 1 km. Most of the pastures contained only a single haplotype, and haplotypes were frequently distinct between nearby pastures and even between groups of nests within the same pasture. In the three pastures that contained several haplotypes, haplotypes were not randomly distributed, the genetic differentiation between nests being phiST = 0.17, 0.52, and 0.69. This indicates that most queens are recruited within their parental colonies. However, a large proportion of nests contained more than one haplotype, demonstrating that colonies will sometimes accept foreign queens. The relatedness of mitochondrial genes among nestmates varied between 0.62 and 0.75 when relatedness was measured within each pasture and ranged between 0.72 and 1.0 when relatedness was assessed with all pastures as a reference population. Neighboring nests were more genetically similar than distant ones, and there was significant isolation by distance. This pattern may be due to new nests being formed by budding or by limited effective queen dispersal, probably on foot between neighboring nests. These results show that effective queen dispersal is extremely restricted even at a small geographical scale, a pattern consistent with the idea that ecological constraints are an important selective force leading to the evolution and maintenance of polygyny.
pubmed:language
eng
pubmed:journal
pubmed:citationSubset
IM
pubmed:chemical
pubmed:status
MEDLINE
pubmed:month
Dec
pubmed:issn
0014-3820
pubmed:author
pubmed:issnType
Print
pubmed:volume
55
pubmed:owner
NLM
pubmed:authorsComplete
Y
pubmed:pagination
2484-92
pubmed:dateRevised
2008-6-4
pubmed:meshHeading
pubmed:year
2001
pubmed:articleTitle
Restricted effective queen dispersal at a microgeographic scale in polygynous populations of the ant Formica exsecta.
pubmed:affiliation
Institute of Ecology, Bâtiment de Biologie, University of Lausanne, Switzerland. Cathy.Liautard@ie-zea.unil.ch
pubmed:publicationType
Journal Article, Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't