Dissertation Research: The Effects of Ecological Constraints on Polygyny in Argentine Ants

9976725帕伦比生态约束假说提出，竞争和/或栖息地饱和促进了共生昆虫群体中一夫多妻制(多女王)的进化，这些昆虫之间的亲缘关系较低。为了验证这一假设，这项研究将比较阿根廷蚂蚁的三个野外种群的群体：没有竞争的引入种群，与主要竞争对手共存的引入种群，以及本地种群。将在野外测量包括巢特征和巢密度在内的生态数据，并将使用微卫星分析来测量蜂王数量和繁殖偏斜的遗传变量。比较三个种群的数据将揭示该物种的生态、社会结构和一夫多妻制程度如何随着不同程度的生态约束而变化。这项研究的结果将扩展我们的传统观点，即合作的进化是一个亲属选择的过程，通过探索远亲个体之间的合作如何进化。确定像一夫多妻制这样的重要生活史特征如何随生态因素而变化，是了解社会有机体可能能够以多种方式适应环境的第一步。这项研究的意义超出了社会性昆虫的范围。通过将人口统计特征与社会的内部属性联系起来，这项研究测试了一些进化谜题背后的潜在力量，包括复杂社会中的亲属冲突、生殖扭曲、共同繁殖以及社会生活本身的进化。

9976725 Palumbi The ecological constraints hypothesis proposes that competition and/or habitat saturation promotes the evolution of polygyny (multiple queens) in colonies of eusocial insects that have low relatedness between nest mates. To test this hypothesis, this study will compare colonies from three field populations of the Argentine ant, Linepithema humile: an introduced population with no competition, an introduced population coexisting with a major competitor, and a native population. Ecological data including nest characteristics and density of nests will be measured in the field, and the genetic variables of queen number and reproductive skew will be measured using microsatellite analysis. Comparing data from the three populations will reveal how the ecology, social structure, and degree of polygyny of this species changes with different levels of ecological constraint. The results of this study will expand our traditional view of the evolution of cooperation as a process of kin selection by exploring how cooperation can evolve between distantly related individuals. Determining how an important life history trait like polygyny varies with ecological factors is the first step to understanding the many ways social organisms may be able to adapt to their environment. The significance of this study reaches beyond the scope of eusocial insects. By relating demographic features with internal properties of societies, this study tests the underlying forces behind the proximate and ultimate causes of a number of evolutionary puzzles including kin conflict in complex societies, reproductive skew, communal breeding, and the evolution of social life itself.