Effective population size in eusocial Hymenoptera with worker-produced males

Abstract

In many eusocial Hymenoptera, a proportion of males are produced by workers. To assess the effect of male production by workers on the effective population size Ne, a general expression of Ne in Hymenoptera with worker-produced males is derived on the basis of the genetic drift in the frequency of a neutral allele. Stochastic simulation verifies that the obtained expression gives a good prediction of Ne under a wide range of conditions. Numerical computation with the expression indicates that worker reproduction generally reduces Ne. The reduction can be serious in populations with a unity or female-biased breeding sex ratio. Worker reproduction may increase Ne in populations with a male-biased breeding sex ratio, only if each laying worker produce a small number of males and the difference of male progeny number among workers is not large. Worker reproduction could be an important cause of the generally lower genetic variation found in Hymenoptera, through its effect on Ne. © 2012 Macmillan Publishers Limited All rights reserved.