NDLI: Ecological barriers to early colony establishment in three coexisting acacia-ant species in Kenya

Content Provider	Springer Nature Link
Author	Stanton, M. L. Palmer, T. M. Young, T. P.
Copyright Year	2005
Abstract	In black cotton uplands in East Africa, four symbiotic acacia-ant species compete for possession of a single swollen thorn tree species, Acacia drepanolobium, and yet coexist at fine spatial scales. Three of the four ant species produce independent foundress queens that establish colonies claustrally within swollen thorns, most often on small saplings. We conducted surveys of such saplings at two sites in 2001 and 2004, and examined foundresses and incipient colonies within their swollen thorns to determine what factors influence their success. Competition among foundresses for nest initiation sites was intense, with an average of over one founding attempt per swollen thorn in all samples, and with living and dead queens significantly hyper-dispersed among available thorns. Combat with other foundresses was the most common cause of death among claustral queens, especially for Tetraponera penzigi. In interspecific battles for nest initiation sites, T. penzigi was dominant over Crematogaster nigriceps and C. mimosae, and C. nigriceps won over 80% of its contests with C. mimosae foundresses. For singleton foundresses, brood parasitism by the braconid wasp Trigastrotheca laikipiensis typically results in the death of the entire ant brood. Host queens defend parasite larvae, pupae and eclosed adults, apparently unable to distinguish the wasps from legitimate offspring. Rates of brood parasitism were as high as 15–20% for incipient colonies of both Crematogaster species, but were extremely low for T. nigriceps in all samples. Although T. penzigi and C. nigriceps foundresses are always solitary, approximately 18% of claustral C. mimosae colonies contain cooperating pleometrotic queens. For unparasitized, claustral C. mimosae colonies, brood production per queen did not differ between solitary and cooperating foundresses. However, the per-capita risks associated with parastitism were reduced for pleometrotic queens.
Starting Page	393
Ending Page	401
Page Count	9
File Format	PDF
ISSN	00201812
Journal	Insectes Sociaux
Volume Number	52
Issue Number	4
e-ISSN	14209098
Language	English
Publisher	Birkhäuser-Verlag
Publisher Date	2005-01-01
Publisher Place	Basel
Access Restriction	One Nation One Subscription (ONOS)
Subject Keyword	Crematogaster Tetraponera Trigastrotheca competition parasitism colony founding Zoology
Content Type	Text
Resource Type	Article
Subject	Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics Insect Science

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Ecological barriers to early colony establishment in three coexisting acacia-ant species in Kenya

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