Jaimes-Nino, Luisa Maria and Heinze, Juergen and Oettler, Jan (2022) Late-life fitness gains and reproductive death in Cardiocondyla obscurior ants. ELIFE, 11: e74695. ISSN 2050-084X
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A key hypothesis for the occurrence of senescence is the decrease in selection strength due to the decrease in the proportion of newborns from parents attaining an advanced age - the so-called selection shadow. Strikingly, queens of social insects have long lifespans and reproductive senescence seems to be negligible. By lifelong tracking of 99 Cardiocondyla obscurior (Formicidae: Myrmicinae) ant colonies, we find that queens shift to the production of sexuals in late life regardless of their absolute lifespan or the number of workers present. Furthermore, RNAseq analyses of old queens past their peak of reproductive performance showed the development of massive pathology while queens were still fertile, leading to rapid death. We conclude that the evolution of superorganismality is accompanied by 'continuusparity,' a life history strategy that is distinct from other iteroparous and semelparous strategies across the tree of life, in that it combines continuous reproduction with a fitness peak late in life.
| Item Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | WESTERN HARVESTER ANT; COLONY SIZE; SPAN; POPULATION; MECHANISMS; LONGEVITY; MORTALITY; EVOLUTION; QUEENS; AGE; Cardiocondyla obscurior; aging; selection shadow; senescence; social insects; Other |
| Subjects: | 500 Science > 590 Zoological sciences |
| Divisions: | Biology, Preclinical Medicine > Institut für Zoologie > Zoologie/Evolutionsbiologie (Prof. Dr. Jürgen Heinze) |
| Depositing User: | Dr. Gernot Deinzer |
| Date Deposited: | 07 Feb 2024 06:56 |
| Last Modified: | 07 Feb 2024 06:56 |
| URI: | https://pred.uni-regensburg.de/id/eprint/56499 |
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