10.5061/DRYAD.4B072
Procter, Duncan S.
University of York
University of Bristol
Cottrell, Joan E.
Forest Research
Watts, Kevin
Forest Research
A'Hara, Stuart W.
Forest Research
Hofreiter, Michael
University of York
Robinson, Elva J. H.
University of York
Data from: Does cooperation mean kinship between spatially discrete ant nests?
Dryad
dataset
2017
Formica lugubris
polydomy
social organisation
Eusociality
colony organisation
2017-11-14T00:00:00Z
2017-11-14T00:00:00Z
en
https://doi.org/10.1002/ece3.2590
140695 bytes
1
CC0 1.0 Universal (CC0 1.0) Public Domain Dedication
Eusociality is one of the most complex forms of social organization,
characterized by cooperative and reproductive units termed colonies.
Altruistic behavior of workers within colonies is explained by inclusive
fitness, with indirect fitness benefits accrued by helping kin. Members of
a social insect colony are expected to be more closely related to one
another than they are to other conspecifics. In many social insects, the
colony can extend to multiple socially connected but spatially separate
nests (polydomy). Social connections, such as trails between nests,
promote cooperation and resource exchange, and we predict that workers
from socially connected nests will have higher internest relatedness than
those from socially unconnected, and noncooperating, nests. We measure
social connections, resource exchange, and internest genetic relatedness
in the polydomous wood ant Formica lugubris to test whether (1) socially
connected but spatially separate nests cooperate, and (2) high internest
relatedness is the underlying driver of this cooperation. Our results show
that socially connected nests exhibit movement of workers and resources,
which suggests they do cooperate, whereas unconnected nests do not.
However, we find no difference in internest genetic relatedness between
socially connected and unconnected nest pairs, both show high kinship. Our
results suggest that neighboring pairs of connected nests show a social
and cooperative distinction, but no genetic distinction. We hypothesize
that the loss of a social connection may initiate ecological divergence
within colonies. Genetic divergence between neighboring nests may build up
only later, as a consequence rather than a cause of colony separation.
Worker movement dataFile containing ant worker movement data within sample
triplets along with distance between nests and nest volumes. For full
description of labelling see readmemovement_data.txtMicrosatellite
dataData for microsatellite variation across 12 loci. Four columns
preceeding mirosatellite data describing sampling (see readme), next 12
columns are variation across microsatellite
datamicrosatellite_data.txtResource movement dataA four column file with
data on the absorbance of individual ants following and ELISA assay.
Arranges as follows: colony - the name of the tested triplet, n=10; nest -
B, C or U for base, connected or unconnected (see paper Fig. 1 for
details); sample - bl (blank, no ant), ctrl (control, known negative ant),
1-100 individual ants being tested for absorbance; absorb - absorbance
valueabsorbance_data.txtSample locationsLocations of nests used within
this study along with triplet ID and their distance to forest cover
historicallysample_locations.txt
North York Moors
UK
Yorkshire