Disentangling the mechanisms linking dispersal and sociality in supergene-mediated ant social forms

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Serval ID
serval:BIB_D8B29F5C3475
Type
Article: article from journal or magazin.
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Publications
Institution
Title
Disentangling the mechanisms linking dispersal and sociality in supergene-mediated ant social forms
Journal
Proceedings of the Royal Society B
Author(s)
Fontcuberta Amaranta (co-first), De Gasperin Ornela (co-first), Avril Amaury, Dind Sagane, Chapuisat Michel
Publication state
Published
Issued date
2021
Volume
288
Pages
20210118.
Language
english
Abstract
The coevolution between dispersal and sociality can lead to linked polymorphisms in both traits, which may favour the emergence of supergenes. Supergenes have recently been found to control social organization in several ant lineages. Whether and how these ‘social supergenes’ also control traits related to dispersal is yet unknown. Our goal here was to get a comprehensive view of the dispersal mechanisms associated with supergene-controlled alternative social forms in the ant Formica selysi. We measured the production and emission of young females and males by single-queen (monogyne) and multiple-queen ( polygyne) colonies, the composition of mating aggregations, and the frequency of crosses within and between social forms in the wild. We found that males and females from alternative social forms did not display strong differences in their pro- pensity to leave the nest and disperse, nor in their mating behaviour. Instead, the social forms differed substantially in sex allocation. Monogyne colonies produced 90% of the females flying to swarms, whereas 57% of the males in swarms originated from polygyne colonies. Most crosses were assortative with respect to social form. However, 20% of the monogyne females did mate with polygyne males, which is surprising as this cross has never been found in mature monogyne colonies. We suggest that the polygyny-determining haplotype free rides on monogyne females, who establish independent colonies that later become polygyne. By identifying the steps in dispersal where the social forms differ, this study sheds light on the behavioural and colony-level traits linking dispersal and sociality through supergenes.
Keywords
dispersal, social polymorphism, queen number, supergene, sex ratio, Formica selysi
Create date
01/04/2021 14:39
Last modification date
01/05/2021 6:13
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