From the laboratory to the field: the advantage of pleometrotic colony founding

Abstract

In their recent TREE review, Bernasconi and Strassmann 1 Bernasconi G. Strassmann J.E. Cooperation among unrelated individuals: the ant foundress case. Trends Ecol. Evol. 1999; 14: 477-482 Abstract Full Text Full Text PDF PubMed Scopus (174) Google Scholar discuss several benefits of pleometrotic founding in ants, but suggest that the main benefit of such cooperation is ‘higher success at brood raiding’. This appears to be true for the invasive fire ant, Solenopsis invicta, where brood raiding between incipient nests plays a major role in initial colony success in natural populations 2 Tschinkel W.R. Brood raiding in the fire ant, Solenopsis invicta (Hymenoptera: Formicidae): laboratory and field observations. Ann. Entomol. Soc. Am. 1992; 85: 638-646 Google Scholar . However, in spite of a series of elegant laboratory experiments 3 Bartz S.H. Hölldobler B. Colony founding in Myrmecocystus mimicus Wheeler (Hymenoptera, Formicidae) and the evolution of foundress associations. Behav. Ecol. Sociobiol. 1982; 10: 137-147 Crossref Scopus (176) Google Scholar , 4 Rissing S.W. Pollock G.B. Queen aggression, pleometrotic advantage and brood raiding in the ant Veromessor pergandei (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). Anim. Behav. 1987; 35: 975-981 Crossref Scopus (124) Google Scholar , 5 Sommer K. Hölldobler B. Colony founding by queen association and determinants of reduction in queen number in the ant Lasius niger. Anim. Behav. 1995; 50: 287-294 Crossref Scopus (102) Google Scholar , 6 Rissing S.W. et al. Foraging specialization without relatedness or dominance among co-founding ant queens. Nature. 1989; 338: 420-422 Crossref Scopus (129) Google Scholar , there remains no direct evidence that brood raiding is important or that it even occurs between incipient field colonies of pleometrotic species other than S. invicta. In the only published study of incipient colonies in Messor pergandei7 Pfennig D.W. Absence of joint nesting advantage in desert seed harvester ants: evidence from a field experiment. Anim. Behav. 1995; 49: 567-575 Google Scholar , in spite of intense behavioural observation, Pfennig found no evidence that brood raiding occurred in the field.