Sex allocation ratios in the facultatively polygynous ant, Leptothorax acervorum
- UNCG Author/Contributor (non-UNCG co-authors, if there are any, appear on document)
- Olav Rueppell, Associate Professor (Creator)
- Institution
- The University of North Carolina at Greensboro (UNCG )
- Web Site: http://library.uncg.edu/
Abstract: We investigated sex allocation in a central European population of the facultatively polygynous ant Leptothorax acervorum. The population-wide sex ratio was found to be quite balanced, with a proportional investment in female sexuals of 0.49. Sex allocation varied considerably between colonies, resulting in split sex ratios. The productivity of colonies was negatively correlated with queen number and positively with colony size. In contrast, the sex ratio (proportional investment in female sexuals) was neither correlated with queen number, colony size, nor total sexual production, but with worker relatedness. The uncoupling of the genetic colony structure and queen number presumably results from frequent queen turnover and colony splitting.
Sex allocation ratios in the facultatively polygynous ant, Leptothorax acervorum
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Created on 1/1/2001
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Additional Information
- Publication
- Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology 50: 270-274
- Language: English
- Date: 2001
- Keywords
- Sex ratio, Relatedness, Relative relatedness asymmetry, Polygyny, Formicidae