Linked Life Data

16006333

Source:http://linkedlifedata.com/resource/pubmed/id/16006333

Statements in which the resource exists as a subject.
PredicateObject
rdf:type
lifeskim:mentions
pubmed:issue
1570
pubmed:dateCreated
2005-7-11
pubmed:abstractText
Assessing a conspecific's potential is often crucial to increase one's fitness, e.g. in female choice, contests with rivals or reproductive conflicts in animal societies. In the latter, helpers benefit from accurately assessing the fertility of the breeder as an indication of inclusive fitness. There is evidence that this can be achieved using chemical correlates of reproductive activity. Here, we show that queen quality can be assessed by directly monitoring her reproductive output. In the paper wasp Polistes dominulus, we mimicked a decrease in queen fertility by regularly removing brood. This triggered ovarian development and egg-laying by many workers, which strongly suggests that brood abundance is a reliable cue of queen quality. Brood abundance can be monitored when workers perform regular brood care in small size societies where each brood element is kept in a separate cell. Our results also show that although the queen was not manipulated, and thus remained healthy and fully fertile, she did not control worker egg-laying. Nevertheless, when workers laid eggs, the queen secured a near reproductive monopoly by selectively destroying these eggs, a mechanism known as 'queen policing'. By contrast, workers destroyed comparatively few queen-laid eggs, but did destroy each other's eggs.
pubmed:commentsCorrections
pubmed:language
eng
pubmed:journal
pubmed:citationSubset
IM
pubmed:status
MEDLINE
pubmed:month
Jul
pubmed:issn
0962-8452
pubmed:author
pubmed:issnType
Print
pubmed:day
7
pubmed:volume
272
pubmed:owner
NLM
pubmed:authorsComplete
Y
pubmed:pagination
1339-44
pubmed:dateRevised
2010-9-20
pubmed:meshHeading
pubmed:year
2005
pubmed:articleTitle
Direct assessment of queen quality and lack of worker suppression in a paper wasp.
pubmed:affiliation
LS Verhaltensphysiologie und Soziobiologie, Biozentrum, Am Hubland, 97074 Würzburg, Germany. jliebig@biozentrum.uni-wuerzburg.de
pubmed:publicationType
Journal Article, Comparative Study, Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't