Abstract
This study aims to better understand the evolutionary processes allowing species coexistence in eusocial insect communities. We develop a mathematical model that applies adaptive dynamics theory to the evolutionary dynamics of eusocial insects, focusing on the colony as the unit of selection. The model links long-term evolutionary processes to ecological interactions among colonies and seasonal worker production within the colony. Colony population dynamics is defined by both worker production and colony reproduction. Random mutations occur in strategies, and mutant colonies enter the community. The interactions of colonies at the ecological timescale drive the evolution of strategies at the evolutionary timescale by natural selection. This model is used to study two specific traits in ants: worker body size and the degree of collective foraging. For both traits, trade-offs in competitive ability and other fitness components allows to determine conditions in which selection becomes disruptive. Our results illustrate that asymmetric competition underpins diversity in ant communities.
Highlights
A fundamental challenge in community ecology is to understand the mechanisms allowing species coexistence [1,2,3,4,5]
This work presents a model that can be used to study the evolutionary dynamics of life history traits or specific behaviors in eusocial insects
Two examples that consider the evolutionary dynamics of worker body size and foraging strategies in ants are developed
Summary
A fundamental challenge in community ecology is to understand the mechanisms allowing species coexistence [1,2,3,4,5]. In many ecosystems, coexisting ant species differ in worker body size and colony foraging strategy [9,10,11,12,13]. In some Mediterranean ant communities, for instance [12,13], mean worker body size ranges from 1.6 mm to 10.0 mm across species. Other species forage collectively by recruiting nestmates to the food resource. The level of cooperation that characterizes collective foraging largely depends on the kind of signal involved in communication between nestmates (from antennal contact to long-lasting pheromone)
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