Colony co-founding in ants is an active process by queens

Abstract Cooperative breeding may be selected for in animals when, on average, it confers greater benefits than solitary breeding. In a number of eusocial insects (i.e., ants, bees, wasps, and termites), queens join together to co-create new nests, a phenomenon known as colony co-founding. It has be...

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Autores principales:	Serge Aron, Jean-Louis Deneubourg
Formato:	article
Lenguaje:	EN
Publicado:	Nature Portfolio 2020
Materias:	Medicine R Science Q
Acceso en línea:	https://doaj.org/article/04b183a3004b4cb68f0257e4c7fc914c
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spelling	oai:doaj.org-article:04b183a3004b4cb68f0257e4c7fc914c2021-12-02T18:50:58ZColony co-founding in ants is an active process by queens10.1038/s41598-020-70497-x2045-2322https://doaj.org/article/04b183a3004b4cb68f0257e4c7fc914c2020-08-01T00:00:00Zhttps://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-020-70497-xhttps://doaj.org/toc/2045-2322Abstract Cooperative breeding may be selected for in animals when, on average, it confers greater benefits than solitary breeding. In a number of eusocial insects (i.e., ants, bees, wasps, and termites), queens join together to co-create new nests, a phenomenon known as colony co-founding. It has been hypothesised that co-founding evolved because queens obtain several fitness benefits. However, in ants, previous work has suggested that co-founding is a random process that results from high queen density and low nest-site availability. We experimentally examined nest-founding behaviour in the black garden ant, Lasius niger. We gave newly mated queens the choice between two empty nesting chambers, and compared their distribution across the two chambers with that expected under random allocation. We found that queens formed associations of various sizes; in most instances, queens group together in a single chamber. Across all experiments, the frequency of larger groups of queens was significantly higher than expected given random assortment. These results indicate colony co-founding in ants may actually be an active process resulting from mutual attraction among queens. That said, under natural conditions, ecological constraints may limit encounters among newly mated queens.Serge AronJean-Louis DeneubourgNature PortfolioarticleMedicineRScienceQENScientific Reports, Vol 10, Iss 1, Pp 1-7 (2020)
institution	DOAJ
collection	DOAJ
language	EN
topic	Medicine R Science Q
spellingShingle	Medicine R Science Q Serge Aron Jean-Louis Deneubourg Colony co-founding in ants is an active process by queens
description	Abstract Cooperative breeding may be selected for in animals when, on average, it confers greater benefits than solitary breeding. In a number of eusocial insects (i.e., ants, bees, wasps, and termites), queens join together to co-create new nests, a phenomenon known as colony co-founding. It has been hypothesised that co-founding evolved because queens obtain several fitness benefits. However, in ants, previous work has suggested that co-founding is a random process that results from high queen density and low nest-site availability. We experimentally examined nest-founding behaviour in the black garden ant, Lasius niger. We gave newly mated queens the choice between two empty nesting chambers, and compared their distribution across the two chambers with that expected under random allocation. We found that queens formed associations of various sizes; in most instances, queens group together in a single chamber. Across all experiments, the frequency of larger groups of queens was significantly higher than expected given random assortment. These results indicate colony co-founding in ants may actually be an active process resulting from mutual attraction among queens. That said, under natural conditions, ecological constraints may limit encounters among newly mated queens.
format	article
author	Serge Aron Jean-Louis Deneubourg
author_facet	Serge Aron Jean-Louis Deneubourg
author_sort	Serge Aron
title	Colony co-founding in ants is an active process by queens
title_short	Colony co-founding in ants is an active process by queens
title_full	Colony co-founding in ants is an active process by queens
title_fullStr	Colony co-founding in ants is an active process by queens
title_full_unstemmed	Colony co-founding in ants is an active process by queens
title_sort	colony co-founding in ants is an active process by queens
publisher	Nature Portfolio
publishDate	2020
url	https://doaj.org/article/04b183a3004b4cb68f0257e4c7fc914c
work_keys_str_mv	AT sergearon colonycofoundinginantsisanactiveprocessbyqueens AT jeanlouisdeneubourg colonycofoundinginantsisanactiveprocessbyqueens
_version_	1718377426081284096

Colony co-founding in ants is an active process by queens

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