Queen fecundity and reproductive skew in the termite Nasutitermes corniger |
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Authors: | E S Adams L Atkinson |
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Institution: | (1) Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Connecticut, Storrs, CT 06269-3043, USA |
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Abstract: | A major goal of studies on social animals is to understand variation in reproduction within and between groups. We used hierarchical
regressions to analyze oviposition rates in the neotropical termite Nasutitermes corniger, a species with both monogynous and polygynous colonies. Queen fecundity was a non-linear, saturating function of queen weight.
Greater queen weight was associated with larger nest size and with lower numbers of queens per nest, suggesting competition
among queens for resources acquired by the colony. The collective egglaying rate of pairs of queens exceeded that of single
queens, but further increases in queen number did not raise total fecundity. Skew in oviposition rates, as quantified by Morisita’s
index I
δ, averaged 1.2, indicating inequalities in reproductive rates that are only moderately greater than expected for random apportionment.
The leveling off of oviposition with increasing queen weight suggests that it is costly for individual females to produce
eggs at high rates, which could favor tolerance of reproduction by other females, reducing reproductive skew. We hypothesize
that the incentive to tolerate reproduction by other females is especially pronounced for heavier queens, because these queens
are close to the limit of their own reproductive capacity. Consistent with this hypothesis, skew in oviposition rates was
inversely related to the mean weight of queens within a nest.
Received 8 March 2007; revised 17 September 2007; accepted 3 October 2007. |
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Keywords: | Nasutitermes corniger termites fecundity reproductive skew |
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