Effects of social organization and elevation on spatial genetic structure in a montane ant |
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Authors: | Amaranta Fontcuberta Martin Kapun Patrick Tran Van Jessica Purcell Michel Chapuisat |
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Institution: | 1. Department of Ecology and Evolution, University of Lausanne, Lausanne Switzerland ; 2. Center for Anatomy and Cell Biology, Department of Cell and Developmental Biology, Medical University of Vienna, Vienna Austria ; 3. Natural History Museum of Vienna, Vienna Austria ; 4. Department of Entomology, University of California, Riverside California, USA |
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Abstract: | Studying patterns of population structure across the landscape sheds light on dispersal and demographic processes, which helps to inform conservation decisions. Here, we study how social organization and landscape factors affect spatial patterns of genetic differentiation in an ant species living in mountainous regions. Using genome‐wide SNP markers, we assess population structure in the Alpine silver ant, Formica selysi. This species has two social forms controlled by a supergene. The monogyne form has one queen per colony, while the polygyne form has multiple queens per colony. The two social forms co‐occur in the same populations. For both social forms, we found a strong pattern of isolation‐by‐distance across the Alps. Within regions, genetic differentiation between populations was weaker for the monogyne form than for the polygyne form. We suggest that this pattern is due to higher dispersal and effective population sizes in the monogyne form. In addition, we found stronger isolation‐by‐distance and lower genetic diversity in high elevation populations, compared to lowland populations, suggesting that gene flow between F. selysi populations in the Alps occurs mostly through riparian corridors along lowland valleys. Overall, this survey highlights the need to consider intraspecific polymorphisms when assessing population connectivity and calls for special attention to the conservation of lowland habitats in mountain regions. |
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Keywords: | dispersal landscape genetics mountain– valley model population genetics social polymorphism |
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