Roisin Yves, Aron Serge
Behavioral and Evolutionary Ecology, Université Libre de Bruxelles, 1050, Brussels, Belgium.
Am Nat. 2003 Nov;162(5):624-37. doi: 10.1086/378704. Epub 2003 Sep 29.
In social Hymenoptera, relatedness asymmetries due to haplodiploidy often generate conflicts of genetic interest between queens and workers. Split sex ratios are common in ant populations and may result from such conflicts, with workers favoring the production of males in some colonies and of gynes in others. Such intercolonial differences may result from variations in relatedness asymmetries among colony members, but several examples are now known in which this hypothesis does not hold. We develop here a simple model assuming monogynous, monoandrous, worker-sterile, perennial colonies without dispersal restrictions. Workers may eliminate eggs of either sex and determine the caste of the female brood, but the queen controls the number of eggs of each sex she lays. In such conditions, we demonstrate that split sex ratios can result from queens adopting a mixed evolutionary stable strategy (ESS), with one option being to put a strict limit to the number of diploid eggs available and the alternative one to provide diploid eggs ad lib. In the former situation, workers should raise all diploid eggs as workers and release only male sexuals. In the latter, workers should adjust the caste ratio so as to reach the maximum sexual productivity for the colony, which is entirely invested into gynes. For a particular relative investment in gynes at the population level, between 0.5 (ESS under full queen control) and 0.75 (ESS under full worker control), an equilibrium is reached at which both strategies yield an equal genetic payoff to the queen. Male-specialized colonies are predicted to be equally abundant but less populous and less productive than gyne-specialized ones. Available data on the monogyne form of the fire ant, Solenopsis invicta, suggest that this model may apply in this case, although more specific studies are required to test these predictions.
在社会性膜翅目昆虫中,单倍二倍体导致的亲缘关系不对称常常引发蚁后和工蚁之间的遗传利益冲突。性别比例分化在蚁群中很常见,可能就是这种冲突的结果,在一些蚁群中工蚁倾向于产生雄蚁,而在另一些蚁群中则倾向于产生雌蚁。这种蚁群间的差异可能源于蚁群成员间亲缘关系不对称的变化,但现在已知有几个例子并不符合这一假说。我们在此构建了一个简单模型,假设蚁群为单蚁后、单雄蚁、工蚁不育、多年生且无扩散限制。工蚁可以清除任何性别的卵并决定雌性幼虫的品级,但蚁后控制其所产每种性别的卵的数量。在这种情况下,我们证明性别比例分化可能是蚁后采用混合进化稳定策略(ESS)的结果,一种选择是严格限制可利用的二倍体卵的数量,另一种选择是随意提供二倍体卵。在前一种情况下,工蚁应将所有二倍体卵培育成工蚁,只释放雄蚁。在后一种情况下,工蚁应调整品级比例,以使蚁群的性生产力达到最大,全部投入到雌蚁中。对于种群水平上对雌蚁的特定相对投入,在0.5(完全由蚁后控制时的ESS)到0.75(完全由工蚁控制时的ESS)之间,会达到一种平衡,此时两种策略给蚁后带来的遗传收益相等。预计雄性专业化的蚁群数量与雌性专业化的蚁群相等,但个体数量更少且生产力更低。关于入侵红火蚁单蚁后形态的现有数据表明,尽管需要更具体的研究来检验这些预测,但该模型可能适用于这种情况。