Hakala Sanja M, Ittonen Mats, Seppä Perttu, Helanterä Heikki
Centre of Excellence in Biological Interactions, Organismal and Evolutionary Biology Research Programme Faculty of Biological and Environmental Sciences University of Helsinki Helsinki Finland.
Tvärminne Zoological Station University of Helsinki Hanko Finland.
Ecol Evol. 2020 Mar 13;10(8):3671-3685. doi: 10.1002/ece3.6154. eCollection 2020 Apr.
Understanding how social groups function requires studies on how individuals move across the landscape and interact with each other. Ant supercolonies are extreme cooperative units that may consist of thousands of interconnected nests, and their individuals cooperate over large spatial scales. However, the inner structure of suggested supercolonial (or unicolonial) societies has rarely been extensively studied using both genetic and behavioral analyses. We describe a dense supercolony-like aggregation of more than 1,300 nests of the ant () . We performed aggression assays and found that, while aggression levels were generally low, there was some aggression within the assumed supercolony. The occurrence of aggression increased with distance from the focal nest, in accordance with the genetically viscous population structure we observe by using 10 DNA microsatellite markers. However, the aggressive interactions do not follow any clear pattern that would allow specifying colony borders within the area. The genetic data indicate limited gene flow within and away from the supercolony. Our results show that a supercolony is not necessarily a single unit but can be a more fluid mosaic of aggressive and amicable interactions instead, highlighting the need to study internest interactions in detail when describing supercolonies.
理解社会群体如何运作需要研究个体如何在环境中移动以及彼此之间如何互动。蚂蚁超级群落是极端的合作单位，可能由数千个相互连接的巢穴组成，其个体在大空间尺度上进行合作。然而，对于所提出的超级群落（或单群落）社会的内部结构，很少同时使用遗传分析和行为分析进行广泛研究。我们描述了一种由超过1300个 （某种蚂蚁）巢穴组成的类似超级群落的密集聚集。我们进行了攻击试验，发现虽然攻击水平总体较低，但在假定的超级群落内部存在一些攻击行为。攻击行为的发生随着与焦点巢穴距离的增加而增加，这与我们使用10个DNA微卫星标记观察到的遗传粘性种群结构一致。然而，攻击互动并没有遵循任何明确的模式来确定该区域内的群落边界。遗传数据表明在超级群落内部以及远离超级群落的地方基因流动有限。我们的结果表明， 超级群落不一定是一个单一的单位，而可能是一个由攻击和友好互动组成的更具流动性的镶嵌体，这突出了在描述超级群落时详细研究巢穴间相互作用的必要性。
