Data from: Policing effectiveness depends on relatedness and group size
Data files
Dec 06, 2010 version files 110.59 KB
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Colony_size_and_productivity.xls
35.33 KB
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Policing_and_worker_fecundity_data.xls
33.28 KB
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Policing_duration_individual_ant_data.xls
41.98 KB
Abstract
Cohesion of social groups requires the suppression of individual selfishness. Indeed, worker egg laying in insect societies is usually suppressed or punished
through aggression and egg removal. The effectiveness of such "policing" is expected to increase with decreasing relatedness, as inclusive fitness of group members is
more strongly affected by selfish worker reproduction when group members are less closely related to each other. As inclusive fitness is also influenced by the costs and
benefits of helping, the effectiveness of policing should decrease with increasing colony size, because the costs for the whole colony from selfish worker reproduction
are proportionally reduced in large groups. Here, we show that policing effectiveness in colonies of the ant Temnothorax unifasciatus is low in large groups and high in
small groups when relatedness is high. When we experimentally decreased the relatedness in groups, the policing effectiveness reached the same high level as in small
highly related groups, irrespectively of group size. Therefore, our results indicate that policing effectiveness is simultaneously shaped by relatedness and group size,
i.e. an ecological factor. This may have major implications for testing policing across species of animals.