Effects of social organization and elevation on spatial genetic structure in a montane ant.

ABSTRACT: Studying patterns of population structure across the landscape sheds light on dispersal and demographic processes, which helps to inform conservation decisions. Here, we study how social organization and landscape factors affect spatial patterns of genetic differentiation in an ant species living in mountainous regions. Using genome-wide SNP markers, we assess population structure in the Alpine silver ant, Formica selysi. This species has two social forms controlled by a supergene. The monogyne form has one queen per colony, while the polygyne form has multiple queens per colony. The two social forms co-occur in the same populations. For both social forms, we found a strong pattern of isolation-by-distance across the Alps. Within regions, genetic differentiation between populations

SUBMITTER: Fontcuberta A 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9108227 | biostudies-literature | 2022 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature