Frequent colony fusions provide opportunities for helpers to become reproductives in the termite Zootermopsis nevadensis
Frequent colony fusions provide opportunities for helpers to become reproductives in the termite Zootermopsis nevadensis
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DOI：
10.1007/s00265-013-1569-7
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发表时间：
2013-10-01
影响因子：
2.3
通讯作者：
Thorne, Barbara L.
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Howard, Kenneth J.;Johns, Philip M.;Thorne, Barbara L.
在许多白蚁分类群中，占据相同筑巢资源的蚁群可以与不相关的同种邻居相遇、互动和融合。由于原始白蚁的祖先可能也共同居住在资源中，并与邻近的同种科相互作用，形成融合的群体单位的现存物种可能为解释等翅目真社会性的起源提供基本线索，特别是如果两个原始科都保留了繁殖的潜力。在实验室中，我们让内瘤动霉病（斑蝶科）的整个菌落相互作用、融合和发育，然后使用遗传标记来确定繁殖者、士兵和帮手的起源家庭。所有种姓的延续和新成员都来自两个原始殖民地，在某些情况下是两个原始血统的杂交。我们还测量了自然环境中混合家庭群体的频率。在30个野外取样的菌落中，有10个包含混合家族，这表明相互作用和融合在自然界中很常见。我们讨论了我们的研究结果作为理解白蚁群居性进化的模型系统的意义，强调了生态环境对直接、间接和群体水平适应度的重要性。
In many termite taxa, colonies occupying the same nesting resource can meet, interact, and merge with unrelated conspecific neighbors. Because proto-termite ancestors likely also co-inhabited resources and experienced interactions with neighboring conspecific families, extant species that form fused colony units may offer fundamental clues to explaining the origins of eusociality in Isoptera, particularly if both original families retain the potential for reproduction. We allowed entire colonies of Zootermopsis nevadensis (Archotermopsidae) to interact, merge, and develop in the lab, then used genetic markers to determine the family of origin of reproductives, soldiers, and helpers. Persisting and new members of all castes arose from both original colonies and in some cases were hybrids of the two original lineages. We also measured the frequency of mixed-family colonies in natural settings. Ten out of 30 field sampled colonies contained mixed families, demonstrating that interactions and fusions are common in nature. We discuss the implications of our findings as a model system for understanding the evolution of eusociality in termites, highlighting the importance of ecological circumstances impacting direct, indirect, and colony-level fitness.