Local Mate Competition and Parental Investment in Social Insects

Alexander, Richard D.; Sherman, Paul W.

doi:10.1126/science.196.4289.494

Cited by 194 publications

(72 citation statements)

References 25 publications

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“…There is much evidence that suggests that a strong association exists between cytoplasmic (maternal) or sex-linked inheritance patterns and highly skewed investment ratios in the sexes (e.g., Bateson and Gairdner, 1921;Rhoades, 1933;Howard, 1942;Zimmering et al, 1970;Werren et al, 1981;Skinner, 1982;Frank, 1983a;Laughnan and Gabay-Laughnan, 1983). When these inheritance patterns occur, a parent is asymmetrically related (AR) to male and female offspring (see also Hamilton, 1972;Trivers and Hare, 1976;Alexander and Sherman, 1977;Charnov, 1978;Bengtsson, 1981, 1982). The second assumption Hamilton (1967) noted is that there must be genetically random competition for mates among males (i.e., there is no local mate competition, LMC).…”

Section: Solutions For Five Scenariosmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The major causal theories of biased sex ratio in the scenarios discussed are within-sex competition among genetic relatives (Hamilton, 1967;Alexander and Sherman, 1977;Clark, 1978;Bulmer and Taylor, 1980a;Werren, 1980;Taylor, 1981;Charlesworth and Toro, 1982;Uyenoyama and Bengtsson, 1982), group selection (Hamilton, 1975(Hamilton, , 1979Colwell, 1981;Wilson and Colwell, 1981;reviewed in Charnov, 1982), and inbreeding (Maynard Smith, 1978;Stenseth, 1978;Borgia, 1982;Colwell, 1982;Uyenoyama and Bengtsson, 1982). Claims for the various theories have often been strongly worded and hotly debated.…”

Section: Interpretation Of Biased Sex Ratiosmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Hierarchical selection theory and sex ratios I. General solutions for structured populations

Frank

1986

Theoretical Population Biology

214

158

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Models of sex-ratio evolution in structured populations are derived with G. R. Price's covariance form for the hierarchical analysis of natural selection (1970, Nature 227, 520-521). Previous work on competition among related males for mates (local mate competition), competition among related females for a limiting resource (local resource competition), inbreeding, group selection, and asymmetry of genetic inheritance between males and females, are subsumed under a general formulation for sex-ratio biases in structured populations. I found that the evolutionarily stable strategy sex ratio (males : females) for diploids is 1 -p",: 1 -pf, where p m is the regression coefficient of relatedness of the controlling genotypes on males competing for mates, pf is the regression of controlling genotypes on females that compete for a fixed, limiting resource, and there is no inbreeding. For inbreeding and no competition among females, the evolutionarily stable strategy is 1-p m : 1 + p,,,,, where NT, is the regression of controlling genotypes on females' mates.CC 1986 Academic Press, Inc.Many interesting behaviors reflect a tension between the selfish pursuits of some individual or entity within a local group, and the extent to which the ultimate success of that individual also depends on the vigor of its local group. To name just a few of the most popular puzzles, there are the (almost) sterile castes of social insects, in which workers rarely produce offspring, but perhaps gain by the greater success of their colony, which contains a high proportion of identical genes (Hamilton, 1964(Hamilton, , 1972. There is the kin group, where the principle of self-sacrifice for a relative depending on the level of relatedness (Hamilton, 1964) has been accepted as one of the guiding principles of behavioral ecology. Meiotic and gametic drive are further examples the increased success of part of the genome that possibly reduces the overall success of the genome (e.g., Haldane, 1932;Hamilton, 1967;Alexander and Borgia, 1978;Eberhard, 1980;Cosmides and Tooby, 1981). The most recent slogan capturing this idea is "selfish DNA with self-restraint": genetic elements that can replicate and spread within the genome; but the ultimate success of the elements (relative 312

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Section: Solutions For Five Scenariosmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Interpretation Of Biased Sex Ratiosmentioning

confidence: 99%

Hierarchical selection theory and sex ratios I. General solutions for structured populations

Frank

1986

Theoretical Population Biology

214

158

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“…Porém, em himenópteros aculeados (abelhas, formigas e algumas vespas) há desvios desta proporção, freqüentemente atribuídos a fatores ecológicos, fisiológicos e comportamentais. Entender a natureza e evolução destes desvios é um dos objetivos de estudos sobre a evolução da socialidade em Hymenoptera (TRIVERS & HARE 1976;ALEXANDER & SHERMAN 1977;FROHLICH & TEPEDINO 1986;BROCKMANN & GRAFEN 1992;HELMS 1994;DESLIPPE & SAVOLAINEN 1995;CROZIER & PAMILO 1996;YANEGA 1996;CHAPUISAT & KELLER 1999;STROHM & LINSENMAIR 1997a, 1997bOKU & NISHIDA 1999.…”

Section: Introductionunclassified

Alocação sexual e seleção sexo-dependente para tamanho de corpo em Trypoxylon rogenhoferi Kohl (Hymenoptera, Sphecidae)

Peruquetti¹,

Lama²

2003

Rev. Bras. entomol.

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ABSTRACT. Sex allocation and sex-dependent selection for body size in Trypoxylon rogenhoferi Kohl (Hymenoptera, Sphecidae). Two populations of the wasp Trypoxylon rogenhoferi Kohl, 1884 from São Carlos and Luís Antônio, State of São Paulo, Brazil, were observed and sampled from May 1999 to February 2001 using trap-nests. This mass-provisioning wasp was used to test some aspects of optimal sex allocation theory. Both populations fit all the predictions of the models of Green and Brockmann and Grafen. Maternal provisions determined the size of each offspring, and females allocated wellstocked brood cells to daughters, the sex that benefits most being large. This strategy resulted in a difference in size between the sexes. In São Carlos, female weight at emergence was 1.18 times that of males, in Luís Antônio this value was 1.13. The brood cell volume was correlated with both wing length and weight at emergence in both sexes, and the chance that a given brood cell contained a male offspring decreased with increased brood cell volume. In T. rogenhoferi female body size was related to fitness. Larger females were able to collect more mass of spiders per day, the spiders they captured were heavier, and they provisioned more brood cells per day. They also produced larger daughters. For males, no relationship between body size and fitness was found, but the data were scarce. Since the patterns of provisioning were variable among different females in both study sites, it is possible that the females not follow a unique strategy for sex allocation. The sex ratio and/ or investment ratio in the São Carlos population was female-biased and in Luís Antônio, male-biased. In spite of the influence of trap-nests diameters on male production in Luís Antônio, there is some evidence that in São Carlos population the local availability of prey and/or lower rate of parasitism may be major forces in determining the observed sex ratio, but further studies are necessary to verify such hypothesis.

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“…That Trivers & Hare (1976) were able to detect female bias at all indicates that the queen was not in complete control of colony reproduction. (The alternative explanation, local mate competition (Alexander & Sherman 1977), is now considered unlikely to be of general value (Nonacs 1986). ) Although the results of Trivers & Hare (1976) have often been taken to mean that the workers are in full control of sex allocation they are, in fact, often more compatible with sex allocation being under joint queen and worker control.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The worker optimum depends upon several factors but is 3 : 1 (75% : 25%) females (young queens) to males in a HardyWeinberg population in which each colony is headed by one single-mated queen who is the mother of all the colony's male and female offspring. Trivers & Hare (1976) also considered another party of interest, the queen, whose sex-allocation optimum in the absence of local resource competition, local mate competition (Alexander & Sherman 1977) and inbreeding is an even ratio. The prediction of female bias was supported by reviewing published data on sexual production in field surveys of ant populations.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Power over reproduction in social Hymenoptera

Beekman

Ratnieks

2003

Phil. Trans. R. Soc. Lond. B

102

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Inclusive fitness theory has been very successful in predicting and explaining much of the observed variation in the reproductive characteristics of insect societies. For example, the theory correctly predicts sexratio biasing by workers in relation to the queen's mating frequency. However, within an insect society there are typically multiple reproductive optima, each corresponding to the interest of different individual(s) or parties of interest. When multiple optima occur, which party's interests prevail? Presumably, the interests of the party with the greatest 'power'; the ability to do or act. This article focuses on factors that influence power over colony reproduction. In particular, we seek to identify the principles that may cause different parties of interest to have greater or lesser power. In doing this, we discuss power from two different angles. On the one hand, we discuss general factors based upon non-idiosyncratic biological features (e.g. information, access to and ability to process food) that are likely to be important to all social Hymenoptera. On the other hand, we discuss idiosyncratic factors that depend upon the biology of a taxon at any hierarchical level. We propose that a better understanding of the diversity of reproductive characteristics of insect societies will come from combining inclusive fitness theory with a wide range of other factors that affect relative power in a conflict situation.

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Local Mate Competition and Parental Investment in Social Insects

Cited by 194 publications

References 25 publications

Hierarchical selection theory and sex ratios I. General solutions for structured populations

Hierarchical selection theory and sex ratios I. General solutions for structured populations

Alocação sexual e seleção sexo-dependente para tamanho de corpo em Trypoxylon rogenhoferi Kohl (Hymenoptera, Sphecidae)

Power over reproduction in social Hymenoptera

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