Genetic diversity, asymmetrical aggression, and recognition in a widespread invasive species.

ABSTRACT: The evolution and persistence of cooperative social units depends on the ability to distinguish group members from nonmembers. The precision of discrimination, in turn, relies on variation in the labels that individuals use to recognize group members. However, this same variation can be selected against if individuals that are rejected as nonmembers incur a high cost. Here we provide evidence that selection against individuals from genetically diverse groups has contributed to the formation of the unicolonial colony structure that characterizes introduced populations of the invasive Argentine ant (Linepithema humile). Studies in both the laboratory and the field showed that individuals from less genetically diverse colonies attack individuals from more diverse colonies and that attackers s

SUBMITTER: Tsutsui ND 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC298729 | biostudies-literature | 2003 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature