Effects of the social environment on the survival and fungal resistance of ant brood

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Ressource 1Télécharger: BIB_509BE65782C0.P001.pdf (509.49 [Ko])
Etat: Public
Version: Final published version
ID Serval
serval:BIB_509BE65782C0
Type
Article: article d'un périodique ou d'un magazine.
Collection
Publications
Institution
Titre
Effects of the social environment on the survival and fungal resistance of ant brood
Périodique
Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology
Auteur⸱e⸱s
Purcell J., Brütsch T., Chapuisat M.
ISSN
0340-5443
Statut éditorial
Publié
Date de publication
2012
Peer-reviewed
Oui
Volume
66
Numéro
3
Pages
467-474
Langue
anglais
Résumé
The phenotype of social animals can be influenced by genetic, maternal and environmental effects, which include social interactions during development. In social insects, the social environment and genetic origin of brood can each influence a whole suite of traits, from individual size to caste differentiation. Here, we investigate to which degree the social environment during development affects the survival and fungal resistance of ant brood of known maternal origin. We manipulated one component of the social environment, the worker/brood ratio, of brood originating from single queens of Formica selysi. We monitored the survival of brood and measured the head size and ability to resist the entomopathogenic fungus Beauveria bassiana of the resulting callow workers. The worker/brood ratio and origin of eggs affected the survival and maturation time of the brood and the size of the resulting callow workers. The survival of the callow workers varied greatly according to their origin, both in controls and when challenged with B. bassiana. However, there was no interaction between the fungal challenge and either the worker/brood ratio or origin of eggs, suggesting that these factors did not affect parasite resistance in the conditions tested. Overall, the social conditions during brood rearing and the origin of eggs had a strong impact on brood traits that are important for fitness. We detected a surprisingly large amount of variation among queens in the survival of their brood reared in standard queenless conditions, which calls for further studies on genetic, maternal and social effects influencing brood development in the social insects.
Mots-clé
Nature versus nurture, Maternal effect, Parasite resistance, Hymenoptera, Eusociality, Polygyny
Web of science
Création de la notice
20/09/2011 17:13
Dernière modification de la notice
20/08/2019 15:06
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