| 要旨トップ | 目次 | 日本生態学会第62回全国大会 (2015年3月、鹿児島) 講演要旨
ESJ62 Abstract


一般講演(口頭発表) I1-13 (Oral presentation)

The evolution of cheating and its relationship to the local community structure: in a preliminary ant study

*TSUJI, Kazuki (Univ. Ryukyus) and DOBATA, Shigeto (Kyoto Univ.)

Cooperation and conflicts are hallmarks of insect societies. While cooperation of individuals is the main driver of the ecological success of social insects, colonies are always threatened by invasion of exploiters. Indeed, previously we reported that Kihoku population of the parthenogenetic ant, Pristomyrmex punctatus, is invaded by mutant“cheaters". We extend our scope concerning this system to the evolution-ecology feedback. In this recently rising subject, however, social behavior such as altruism and cheating have not been well focused. We compared the ant community structure of 8 sites where P. punctatus cheaters exist with that of 8 sites containing no P. punctatus cheater. This is a preliminary study to empirically test two alternative possibilities. Cheating by social cancers leads to the regulation of the population density of P. punctatus to a lower level, which makes this species less competitive and permits the domination of or coexistence with other ant species. Conversely, community-level dynamics allow the population of P. punctatus to increase a high level that makes cheaters sustainable. If the latter effect were to prove more important, it would challenge the view that intra-population dynamics is the main driver of evolution.


日本生態学会