Home

Network Biology, 2013, 3(2): 54-66
[XML] [EndNote Tagged] [BibTex] [ Full PDF (263K)] [Comment Article]

Article

Cryptic successors unrevealed even by network analysis: A comparative study of two paper wasp species

Anindita Bhadra1, Ferenc Jordan
1Behaviour and Ecology Lab, Department of Biological Sciences, Indian Institute of Science Education and Research - Kolkata, Mohanpur, India
2The Microsoft Research - University of Trento Centre for Computational and Systems Biology, Rovereto, Italy

Received 2 April 2013;Accepted 30 April 2013;Published online 1 June 2013
IAEES

Abstract
Understanding queen succession could be a key contribution to the better understanding of the origins and evolution of eusociality. In order to investigate the nature of organizational changes during queen succession, we analyzed two closely related paper wasp species (Ropalidia cyathiformis and Ropalidia marginata). We compared the effects of in vivo and in silico queen removal on the structure of their interaction networks (the former resulting in queenless colonies with potential queens). We studied several structural measures. There is no major structural difference between full (queenright) and in silico queen-removed colonies but there are major differences between queenless and in silico queen-removed ones. This suggests that queen succession is accompanied by a major reorganization of the society, in Rm but not so much in Rc. We also analysed the centrality ranks of potential queens and found that their positional importance changes a lot during queen succession in R. marginata, as they are processed in the colony. In the queenright colonies of R. marginata, the direction of links is a better predictor of the identity of the potential queen than the strength of links.

Keywords centralization;small world;queen determination;behavioral caste.


International Academy of Ecology and Environmental Sciences. E-mail: office@iaees.org
Copyright © 2009-2024 International Academy of Ecology and Environmental Sciences. All rights reserved.
Web administrator: office@iaees.org, website@iaees.org; Last modified: 2024/4/17


Translate page to: