Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Ecology of Leptothorax ants: impact of food, nest sites, and social parasites

  • Original Article
  • Published:
Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

In a long-term field manipulation, we demonstrate strong reactions of Leptothorax longispinosus ant colonies to food- and nest-site supplementation. Demographic and genetic responses varied over small geographic scales, and the two ecological factors interacted with the presence of the social parasite Protomognathus americanus. We conducted a 2×2 experiment in three blocks and found that the blocks, which were less than 100 m apart, reacted very differently to the treatments. Blocks differed in degree of polygyny, intranest relatedness, colony size, productivity, and sexual investment. Furthermore, these differences were associated with the presence of slave-making ants and the local availability of nest sites. Nest-site supplementation had a strong effect only in the site with the highest prevalence of social parasites, influencing there the density and investment patterns of colonies. L. longispinosus ants in the least parasitized area were strongly affected by both food- and nest-site supplementation. There, food supplementation led to a decrease in the number of queens per colony and consequently to an increase in intranest relatedness, while colonies in nest-site-supplemented areas invested fewer resources in males and produced a female-biased allocation ratio. By contrast, in a third block with a very low intracolonial relatedness, food supplementation induced an absolute and relative higher investment in males. We conclude that ecological factors influencing social organization in insect societies cannot be studied in isolation, because the interactions among factors produce far richer responses than any one variable.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Alloway TM (1990) Slave-species ant colonies recognize slave-makers as enemies. Anim Behav 39:1218–1220

    Google Scholar 

  • Avise JC, Bowen BW, Lamb T (1989) DNA fingerprints from hypervariable mitochondrial genotypes. Mol Biol Evol 6:258–269

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Backus VL (1993) Packaging of offspring by nests of the ant, Leptothorax longispinosus: parent-offspring conflict and queen-worker conflict. Oecologia 95:283–289

    Google Scholar 

  • Backus VL (1995) Rules for allocation in a temperate forest ant: demography, natural selection, and queen-worker conflict. Am Nat 145:755–796

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Backus VL, Herbers JM (1992) Sexual allocation ratios in forest ants: food limitation does not explain observed patterns. Behav Ecol Sociobiol 30:425–429

    Google Scholar 

  • Banschbach VS, Herbers JM (1996) Complex colony structure in social insects. I. Ecological determinants and genetic consequences. Evolution 50:285–297

    Google Scholar 

  • Bono JM, Herbers JM (2003) Proximate and ultimate control of sex ratios in Myrmica brevispinosa colonies. Proc R Soc Lond B 270:811–817

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Boomsma JJ (1989) Sex-investment ratios in ants: has female bias been systematically overestimated? Am Nat 133:517–532

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Boomsma JJ, Grafen A (1990) Intraspecific variation in ant sex ratios and the Trivers-Hare hypothesis. Evolution 44:1026–1034

    Google Scholar 

  • Boomsma JJ, Grafen A (1991) Colony-level sex ratio selection in the eusocial Hymenoptera. J Evol Biol 4:383–407

    Google Scholar 

  • Bourke AFG, Franks NR (1995) Social evolution in ants. Princeton University Press, Princeton

  • Bourke AFG, Heinze J (1994) The ecology of communal breeding: the case of multiple-queen leptothoracine ants. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B 345:359–372

    Google Scholar 

  • Bourke A, Green H, Bruford M (1997) Parentage, reproductive skew and queen turnover in a multiple-queen ant analysed with microsatellites. Proc R Soc Lond B 264:277–283

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Brown WD, Keller L, Sundström L (2002) Sex allocation in mound-building ants: the roles of resources and queen replenishment. Ecology 93:1945–1952

    Google Scholar 

  • Crozier RH, Pamilo P (1996) Evolution of social insect colonies. Oxford University Press, Oxford

  • DeHeer CJ, Backus VL, Herbers JM (2001) Sociogenetic responses to ecological variation in the ant Myrmica punctiventris are context dependent. Behav Ecol Sociobiol 49:375–386

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Deslippe RJ, Savolainen R (1994) Role of food supply in structuring a population of Formica ants. J Anim Ecol 63:756–764

    Google Scholar 

  • Deslippe RJ, Savolainen R (1995) Sex investment in a social insect: the proximate role of food. Ecology 76:375–382

    Google Scholar 

  • Eickwort G, Eickwort J, Gordon J, Eickwort M, Wcislo W (1996) Solitary behavior in a high-altitude population of the social sweat bee Halictus rubicundus (Hymenoptera: Halictidae). Behav Ecol Sociobiol 38:227–233

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Evans JD (1996) Queen longevity, queen adoption, and posthumous indirect fitness in the facultatively polygynous ant Myrmica tahoensis. Behav Ecol Sociobiol 39:275–284

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Excoffier L, Smouse PE, Quattro JM (1992) Analysis of molecular variance inferred from metric distances among DNA haplotypes: application to human mitochondrial DNA restriction data. Genetics 131:479–491

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Foitzik S, Heinze J (1998) Nest site limitation and colony takeover in the ant Leptothorax nylanderi. Behav Ecol 9:367–375

    Google Scholar 

  • Foitzik S, Herbers JM (2001a) Colony structure of a slave-making ant. II. Frequency of slave raids and impact on host population. Evolution 55:316–323

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Foitzik S, Herbers JM (2001b) Colony structure of a slave-making ant. I. Intra-colonial relatedness, worker reproduction and polydomy. Evolution 55:307–315

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Foitzik S, DeHeer CJ, Hunjan DN, Herbers JM (2001) Coevolution in host-parasite systems: behavioural strategies of slave-making ants and their hosts. Proc R Soc Lond B 268:1139–1146

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Foitzik S, Strätz M, Heinze J (2003) Ecology, life history and resource allocation in the ant, Leptothorax nylanderi. J Evol Biol 16:670–680

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hamilton WD (1964) The genetical evolution of social behaviour II. J Theor Biol 7:17–52

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Hammond RL, Bruford, MW, Bourke AFG (2002) Ant workers selfishly bias sex ratios by manipulating female development. Proc R Soc Lond B 269:173–178

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Headley AE (1943) Population studies of two species of ants, Leptothorax longispinosus Roger and Leptothorax curvispinosus Mayr. Ann Entomol Soc Am 36:743–753

    Google Scholar 

  • Herbers JM (1986a) Nest site limitation and facultative polygyny in the ant Leptothorax longispinosus. Behav Ecol Sociobiol 19:115–122

    Google Scholar 

  • Herbers JM (1986b) Effects of ecological parameters on queen number in Leptothorax longispinosus (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). J Kans Entomol Soc 59:675–686

    Google Scholar 

  • Herbers JM (1989) Community structure in north temperate ants: temporal and spatial variation. Oecologia 81:201–211

    Google Scholar 

  • Herbers JM (1990) Reproduction investment and allocation ratios for the ant Leptothorax longispinosus: sorting out the variation. Am Nat 136:178–208

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Herbers JM, Banschbach VS (1998) Food supply and reproductive allocation in forest ants: repeated experiments give different results. Oikos 83:145–151

    Google Scholar 

  • Herbers JM, Banschbach VS (1999) Plasticity of social organization in a forest ant species. Behav Ecol Sociobiol 45:451–465

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Herbers JM, Foitzik S (2002) The ecology of slave-making ants and their hosts in north temperate forests. Ecology 83:148–163

    Google Scholar 

  • Herbers JM, Stuart RJ (1996) Patterns of reproduction in southern versus northern populations of Leptothorax ants (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). Ann Entomol Soc Am 89:354–360

    Google Scholar 

  • Herbers JM, DeHeer CJ, Foitzik S (2001) Conflict over sex allocation drives conflict over reproductive allocation in perennial social insect colonies. Am Nat 158:178–192

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hölldobler B, Wilson EO (1990) The ants. Harvard University Press, Cambridge, Mass.

  • Ingram KK (2002a) Flexibility in nest density and social structure in invasive populations of the Argentine ant, Linepithema humile. Oecologia 133:492–500

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ingram KK (2002b) Plasticity in queen number and social structure in the invasive argentine ant (Linepithema humile). Evolution 56:2008–2016

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Morales MA, Heithaus ER (1998) Food from seed-dispersal mutualism shifts sex ratios in colonies of the ant Aphaenogaster rudis. Ecology 79:734–739

    Google Scholar 

  • Nonacs P (1986a) Ant reproductive strategies and sex allocation theory. Q Rev Biol 61:1–21

    Google Scholar 

  • Nonacs P (1986b) Sex-ratio determination within colonies of ants. Evolution 40:199–204

    Google Scholar 

  • Ode PJ, Rissing SW (2002) Resource abundance and sex allocation by queen and workers in the harvester ant, Messor pergandei. Behav Ecol Sociobiol 51:548–556

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pedersen J, Boomsma JJ (1999a) Effect of habitat saturation on the number and turnover of queens in the polygynous ant, Myrmica sulcinodis. J Evol Biol 12:903–917

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pedersen JS, Boomsma JJ (1999b) Genetic analysis of colony structure in polydomous and polygynous ant populations. Biol J Linn Soc 66:115–144

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Queller DC, Goodnight KF (1989) Estimating relatedness using genetic markers. Evolution 43:258–275

    Google Scholar 

  • Reuter M, Keller L (2001) Sex ratio conflict and worker production in eusocial Hymenoptera. Am Nat 158:166–177

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rice WR (1989) Analyzing tables of statistical tests. Evolution 43:223–225

    Google Scholar 

  • Rosenheim JA, Noncas P, Mangel M (1996) Sex ratios and mulifaceted parental investment. Am Nat 148:501–535

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Schneider S, Roessli D, Excoffier L (2000) Arlequin ver 2.000: A software for population genetics data analysis. Genetics and biometry. Laboratory, University of Geneva, Switzerland

  • Sokal RR, Rohlf FJ (1995) Biometry. Freeman, New York

  • Strohm E, Linsenmair KE (1997) Low resource availability causes extremely male-biased investment ratios in the European bee-wolf, Philanthus triangulum F. (Hymenoptera, Shecidae). Proc R Soc Lond B 264:423–429

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sundström L (1995) Sex allocation and colony maintenance in monogyne and polygyne colonies of Formica truncorum (Hymenoptera: Formicidae): the impact of kinship and mating structure. Am Nat 146:182–201

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Trivers RL, Hare H (1976) Haplodipoidy and the evolution of the social insects. Science 191:249–263

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Vehrencamp S (1983) A model for the evolution of despotic versus egalitarian societies. Anim Behav 31:667–682

    Google Scholar 

  • Wheeler DE (1986) Developmental and physiological determinants of caste in social Hymenoptera—evolutionary implications. Am Nat:128:13–34

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

We thank Chris DeHeer, Joe Fontaine, and Tim Judd for help in the field and for extensive discussions. We also thank the E.N. Huyck Preserve for permission to collect and for access to facilities. Three referees and Lotta Sundström as associate editor gave helpful comments on the manuscript. This work was funded by the National Science Foundation (USA). The experiments were conducted in accordance with the laws of the United States of America and of Germany to the best of the authors’ knowledge.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. LS Biologie I, Universität Regensburg, 93040, Regensburg, Germany

    Susanne Foitzik & Andreas Trindl

  2. Department of Biology, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO 80523, USA

    Susanne Foitzik & Joan M. Herbers

  3. Department of Biology, Middlebury College, Middlebury, VT 05753, USA

    Vickie L. Backus

Authors
  1. Susanne Foitzik
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Vickie L. Backus
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Andreas Trindl
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Joan M. Herbers
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Susanne Foitzik.

Additional information

Communicated by L. Sundström

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Foitzik, S., Backus, V.L., Trindl, A. et al. Ecology of Leptothorax ants: impact of food, nest sites, and social parasites. Behav Ecol Sociobiol 55, 484–493 (2004). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00265-003-0718-9

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00265-003-0718-9

Keywords

Search

Navigation