Linked Life Data

16846912

Source:http://linkedlifedata.com/resource/pubmed/id/16846912

Statements in which the resource exists as a subject.
PredicateObject
rdf:type
lifeskim:mentions
pubmed:issue
1597
pubmed:dateCreated
2006-7-18
pubmed:abstractText
In animal societies, cooperation for the common wealth and latent conflicts due to the selfish interests of individuals are in delicate balance. In many ant species, colonies contain multiple breeders and workers interact with nestmates of varying degrees of relatedness. Therefore, workers could increase their inclusive fitness by preferentially caring for their closest relatives, yet evidence for nepotism in insect societies remains scarce and controversial. We experimentally demonstrate that workers of the ant Formica exsecta do not discriminate between highly related and unrelated brood, but that brood viability differs between queens. We further show that differences in brood viability are sufficient to explain a relatedness pattern that has previously been interpreted as evidence for nepotism. Hence, our findings support the view that nepotism remains elusive in social insects and emphasize the need for further controlled experiments.
pubmed:commentsCorrections
pubmed:language
eng
pubmed:journal
pubmed:citationSubset
IM
pubmed:status
MEDLINE
pubmed:month
Aug
pubmed:issn
0962-8452
pubmed:author
pubmed:issnType
Print
pubmed:day
22
pubmed:volume
273
pubmed:owner
NLM
pubmed:authorsComplete
Y
pubmed:pagination
2049-52
pubmed:dateRevised
2010-9-16
pubmed:meshHeading
pubmed:year
2006
pubmed:articleTitle
Sham nepotism as a result of intrinsic differences in brood viability in ants.
pubmed:affiliation
Department of Ecology and Evolution, University of Lausanne, Biophore, 1015 Lausanne, Switzerland.
pubmed:publicationType
Journal Article, Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't