Inbreeding Tolerance As a Pre‐Adapted Trait for Invasion Success
Received: 23 March 2018 | Revised: 3 October 2018 | Accepted: 8 October 2018 DOI: 10.1111/mec.14910 ORIGINAL ARTICLE Inbreeding tolerance as a pre- adapted trait for invasion success in the invasive ant Brachyponera chinensis Pierre-André Eyer1 | Kenji Matsuura2 | Edward L. Vargo1 | Kazuya Kobayashi2 | Toshihisa Yashiro3 | Wataru Suehiro2 | Chihiro Himuro2 | Tomoyuki Yokoi4 | Benoit Guénard5 | Robert R. Dunn6,7,8 | Kazuki Tsuji9 1Department of Entomology, 2143 TAMU, Texas A&M University, College Station, Abstract Texas Identifying traits that facilitate species introductions and successful invasions of eco- 2 Laboratory of Insect Ecology, Graduate systems represents a key issue in ecology. Following their establishment into new School of Agriculture, Kyoto University, Kyoto, Japan environments, many non- native species exhibit phenotypic plasticity with post- 3Molecular Ecology, Evolution, and introduction changes in behaviour, morphology or life history traits that allow them Phylogenetics (MEEP) laboratory School to overcome the presumed loss of genetic diversity resulting in inbreeding and re- of Life and Environmental Sciences, The University of Sydney, Sydney, Australia duced adaptive potential. Here, we present a unique strategy in the invasive ant 4Laboratory of Conservation Brachyponera chinensis (Emery), in which inbreeding tolerance is a pre- adapted trait Ecology, University of Tsukuba, Tsukuba, Japan for invasion success, allowing this ant to cope with genetic depletion following a ge- 5School of Biological Sciences, The netic bottleneck. We report for the first time that inbreeding is not a consequence of University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong SAR, the founder effect following introduction, but it is due to mating between sister Hong Kong queens and their brothers that pre- exists in native populations which may have 6Department of Applied Ecology, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, North helped it circumvent the cost of invasion.
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