Ant behaviour and brain gene expression of defending hosts depend on the ecological success of the intruding social parasite.

ABSTRACT: The geographical mosaic theory of coevolution predicts that species interactions vary between locales. Depending on who leads the coevolutionary arms race, the effectivity of parasite attack or host defence strategies will explain parasite prevalence. Here, we compare behaviour and brain transcriptomes of Temnothorax longispinosus ant workers when defending their nest against an invading social parasite, the slavemaking ant Temnothorax americanus. A full-factorial design allowed us to test whether behaviour and gene expression are linked to parasite pressure on host populations or to the ecological success of parasite populations. Albeit host defences had been shown before to covary with local parasite pressure, we found parasite success to be much more important. Our chemical and behaviou

SUBMITTER: Kaur R 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6388029 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature