Wenseleers T, Ratnieks F L W, Billen J
Laboratory of Apiculture and Social Insects, Department of Animal and Plant Sciences, Sheffield University, Western Bank, Sheffield, UK.
J Evol Biol. 2003 Jul;16(4):647-58. doi: 10.1046/j.1420-9101.2003.00574.x.
A caste system in which females develop into morphologically distinct queens or workers has evolved independently in ants, wasps and bees. Although such reproductive division of labour may benefit the colony it is also a source of conflict because individual immature females can benefit from developing into a queen in order to gain greater direct reproduction. Here we present a formal inclusive fitness analysis of caste fate conflict appropriate for swarm-founding social Hymenoptera. Three major conclusions are reached: (1) when caste is self-determined, many females should selfishly choose to become queens and the resulting depletion of the workforce can substantially reduce colony productivity; (2) greater relatedness among colony members reduces this excess queen production; (3) if workers can prevent excess queen production at low cost by controlled feeding, a transition to nutritional caste determination should occur. These predictions generalize results derived earlier using an allele-frequency model [Behav. Ecol. Sociobiol. (2001) 50: 467] and are supported by observed levels of queen production in various taxa, especially stingless bees, where caste can be either individually or nutritionally controlled.
在蚂蚁、黄蜂和蜜蜂中，一种雌性会发育成形态各异的蚁后或工蚁的等级制度已经独立进化出来。尽管这种生殖分工可能对群体有益，但它也是冲突的根源，因为未成熟的雌性个体若发育成蚁后就能获得更大的直接繁殖机会，从而从中受益。在此，我们针对群居性社会膜翅目昆虫，对等级命运冲突进行了正式的广义适合度分析。得出了三个主要结论：（1）当等级由个体自行决定时，许多雌性会自私地选择成为蚁后，由此导致的劳动力短缺会大幅降低群体生产力；（2）群体成员之间更高的亲缘关系会减少这种蚁后过量产生的情况；（3）如果工蚁能够通过控制喂食以低成本防止蚁后过量产生，那么就应该会向由营养决定等级的方式转变。这些预测概括了早期使用等位基因频率模型得出的结果[《行为生态学和社会生物学》（2001年）50: 467]，并得到了不同分类群中蚁后产生水平的观察结果的支持，尤其是无刺蜂，其等级既可以由个体决定，也可以由营养决定。
