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opencc-zeroDec 2011View details →

Data from: Clinal variation in colony breeding structure and level of inbreeding in the subterranean termites Reticulitermes flavipes and R. grassei

Social insects exhibit remarkable variation in their colony breeding structures, both within and among species. Ecological factors are believed to be important in shaping reproductive traits of social insect colonies, yet there is little information linking specific environmental variables with differences in breeding structure. Subterranean termites (Rhinotermitidae) show exceptional variation in colony breeding structure, differing in the number of reproductives and degree of inbreeding; colonies can be simple families headed by a single pair of monogamous reproductives (king and queen) or they can be extended families headed by multiple inbreeding neotenic reproductives (wingless individuals). Using microsatellite markers, we characterized colony breeding structure and levels of inbreeding in populations over large parts of the range of the subterranean termites Reticulitermes flavipes in the USA and R. grassei in Europe. Combining these new data with previous results on populations of both species, we found that latitude had a strong effect on the proportion of extended-family colonies in R. flavipes and on levels of inbreeding in both species. We examined the effect of several environmental variables that vary latitudinally; while the degree of inbreeding was greatest in cool, moist habitats in both species, seasonality affected the species differently. Inbreeding in R. flavipes was most strongly associated with climatic variables (mean annual temperature and seasonality), whereas nonclimatic variables, including the availability of wood substrate and soil composition, were important predictors of inbreeding in R. grassei. These results are the first showing that termite breeding structure is shaped by local environmental factors and that species can vary in their responses to these factors.

FIGURE. Chrysosporium multiforme (holotype). A. Conidiogenous structures. B. Intercalary conidia. C. Conidia. D–E. Colony (front and reverse) on PDA. Bars: A–C = 20 μm, D–E = 10 mm. in Morphological and phylogenetic characterisations reveal nine new species of Chrysosporium (Onygenaceae, Onygenales) in China

FIGURE. Chrysosporium multiforme (holotype). A. Conidiogenous structures. B. Intercalary conidia. C. Conidia. D–E. Colony (front and reverse) on PDA. Bars: A–C = 20 μm, D–E = 10 mm.

FIGURE. Chrysosporium kaiyangense (holotype). A–C. Conidiogenous structures. D. Conidia. E. Colony on PDA media. Bars: A–D = 10 μm, E = 10 mm. in Morphological and phylogenetic characterisations reveal nine new species of Chrysosporium (Onygenaceae, Onygenales) in China

FIGURE. Chrysosporium kaiyangense (holotype). A–C. Conidiogenous structures. D. Conidia. E. Colony on PDA media. Bars: A–D = 10 μm, E = 10 mm.

FIGURE. Chrysosporium jiangsuense (holotype). A. Conidiogenous structures. B. Conidia. C–D. Colonies (front and reverse) on PDA. Bars: A–B = 20 μm; C–D = 10 mm. in Morphological and phylogenetic characterisations reveal nine new species of Chrysosporium (Onygenaceae, Onygenales) in China

FIGURE. Chrysosporium jiangsuense (holotype). A. Conidiogenous structures. B. Conidia. C–D. Colonies (front and reverse) on PDA. Bars: A–B = 20 μm; C–D = 10 mm.

FIGURE. Chrysosporium irregularum (holotype). A. Conidiogenous structures. B. Intercalary conidia. C. Conidia. D–E. Colonies (front and reverse) on PDA. Bars: A–C = 20 μm, D–E= 10 mm. in Morphological and phylogenetic characterisations reveal nine new species of Chrysosporium (Onygenaceae, Onygenales) in China

FIGURE. Chrysosporium irregularum (holotype). A. Conidiogenous structures. B. Intercalary conidia. C. Conidia. D–E. Colonies (front and reverse) on PDA. Bars: A–C = 20 μm, D–E= 10 mm.

FIGURE. Chrysosporium guangxiense (holotype). A. Conidiogenous structures. B. Racquet hyphae. C. Intercalary conidia. D–E. Colonies (front and reverse) on PDA. Bars: A–C = 20 μm, D–E = 10 mm. in Morphological and phylogenetic characterisations reveal nine new species of Chrysosporium (Onygenaceae, Onygenales) in China

FIGURE. Chrysosporium guangxiense (holotype). A. Conidiogenous structures. B. Racquet hyphae. C. Intercalary conidia. D–E. Colonies (front and reverse) on PDA. Bars: A–C = 20 μm, D–E = 10 mm.

FIGURE. Chrysosporium gansuense (holotype). A–B. Conidiogenous structures. C. Conidia. D–E. Colonies (front and reverse) on PDA media. Bars A–C = 10 μm, D–E = 10 mm. in Morphological and phylogenetic characterisations reveal nine new species of Chrysosporium (Onygenaceae, Onygenales) in China

FIGURE. Chrysosporium gansuense (holotype). A–B. Conidiogenous structures. C. Conidia. D–E. Colonies (front and reverse) on PDA media. Bars A–C = 10 μm, D–E = 10 mm.

FIGURE. Chrysosporium sichuanense (holotype). A. Conidiogenous structures. B. Arthroconidia. C. Racquet hyphae. D. Conidia. E–F. Colony (front and reverse) on PDA. Bars: A–D = 20 μm, E–F = 10 mm. in Morphological and phylogenetic characterisations reveal nine new species of Chrysosporium (Onygenaceae, Onygenales) in China

FIGURE. Chrysosporium sichuanense (holotype). A. Conidiogenous structures. B. Arthroconidia. C. Racquet hyphae. D. Conidia. E–F. Colony (front and reverse) on PDA. Bars: A–D = 20 μm, E–F = 10 mm.

opencc-zeroDec 2016View details →

Data from: Within-group relatedness is correlated with colony-level social structure and reproductive sharing in a social fish.

In group-living species, the degree of relatedness among group members often governs the extent of reproductive sharing, cooperation and conflict within a group. Kinship among group members can be shaped by the presence and location of neighbouring groups, as these provide dispersal or mating opportunities that can dilute kinship among current group members. Here, we assessed how within-group relatedness varies with the density and position of neighbouring social groups in Neolamprologus pulcher, a colonial and group-living cichlid fish. We used restriction site-associated DNA sequencing (RADseq) methods to generate thousands of polymorphic SNPs. Relative to microsatellite data, RADseq data provided much tighter confidence intervals around our relatedness estimates. These data allowed us to document novel patterns of relatedness in relation to colony-level social structure. First, the density of neighbouring groups was negatively correlated with relatedness between subordinates and dominant females within a group, but no such patterns were observed between subordinates and dominant males. Second, subordinates at the colony edge were less related to dominant males in their group than subordinates in the colony centre, suggesting a shorter breeding tenure for dominant males at the colony edge. Finally, subordinates who were closely related to their same-sex dominant were more likely to reproduce, supporting some restraint models of reproductive skew. Collectively, these results demonstrate that within-group relatedness is influenced by the broader social context, and variation between groups in the degree of relatedness between dominants and subordinates can be explained by both patterns of reproductive sharing and the nature of the social landscape.

opencc-zeroJul 2021View details →

Data from: Genetic structuring among colonies of a pantropical seabird: Implication for subspecies validation and conservation

Appendix S1 <table> <tbody> <tr> <td>Table S1</td> <td>Details of field researchers and licences under which they took blood samples from white-tailed tropicbirds from populations in the years of study</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Table S2</td> <td>Morphometrics of 616 individual white-tailed tropicbirds from 11 populations. Population codes are as described in Table 1.</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Table S3</td> <td>Raw microsatellite genotypes for 382 individual White-tailed tropicbird from 13 populations. Population codes are as described in Table 1</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Table S4</td> <td>Details of mtDNA sequences </td> </tr> <tr> <td>Table S5</td> <td>Tests of bottleneck (P-values for one-tailed Wilcoxon's signed rank test for heterozygosity excess) based on 10 microsatellites in 13 populations of Phaethon lepturus</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Table S6</td> <td>Pairwise FST estimates based on nuclear microsatellite variation (above diagonal), and ΦST estimates based on mtDNA sequence (below diagonal) for 11 populations with sample sizes >5 ('Pop's) of Phaethon lepturus (see Table 1 for population codes)</td> </tr> </tbody> </table>

Figure 4. a in One tree, many colonies: colony structure, breeding system and colonization events of host trees in tunnelling Melissotarsus ants

Figure 4. a, number of matings per queen for each monogyne colony in each population. b, relatedness values among nestmate workers for each colony. Arrows indicate relatedness values between alate queens (rA-A) and the triangle indicates relatedness value between queens in the SL11 polygyne colony.

Figure 3 in One tree, many colonies: colony structure, breeding system and colonization events of host trees in tunnelling Melissotarsus ants

Figure 3. Clustering of nests in the overall sampling using principal component analysis of the microsatellite markers. Clustering analyses were subsequently run for each of the four populations of nests.

Figure 1 in One tree, many colonies: colony structure, breeding system and colonization events of host trees in tunnelling Melissotarsus ants

Figure 1. Geographic positions of the 34 nests of Melissotarsus sampled in four localities in South Africa, and one pooled sample from Mozambique. Insets indicate sampling positions of nests within the localities of uMkhuze (left) and St Lucia (right). Nests located on the same branch or tree are indicated with the same label.

Figure 2 in One tree, many colonies: colony structure, breeding system and colonization events of host trees in tunnelling Melissotarsus ants

Figure 2. Graphical representation of STRUCTURE results determining the number of genetic groups in the overall dataset for different values of K. Each genetic group is characterized by a colour; and each individual is represented by a vertical bar according to its probability of belonging to each group. Distinct simulations were subsequently run for the four populations, separately. In each population, grey bars below the plot indicate different colonies assigned to a single genetic group by STRUCTURE (only the pairs EC1/2 and CEc/ma are not significant using the G-test of differentiation).