DOI: 10.5061/dryad.8042
title: Data from: Policing effectiveness depends on relatedness and group size

description: Cohesion of social groups requires the suppression of individual
 selfishness. Indeed, worker egg laying in insect societies is usually
 suppressed or punished through aggression and egg removal. The
 effectiveness of such "policing" is expected to increase with
 decreasing relatedness, as inclusive fitness of group members is more
 strongly affected by selfish worker reproduction when group members are
 less closely related to each other. As inclusive fitness is also
 influenced by the costs and benefits of helping, the effectiveness of
 policing should decrease with increasing colony size, because the costs
 for the whole colony from selfish worker reproduction are proportionally
 reduced in large groups. Here, we show that policing effectiveness in
 colonies of the ant Temnothorax unifasciatus is low in large groups and
 high in small groups when relatedness is high. When we experimentally
 decreased the relatedness in groups, the policing effectiveness reached
 the same high level as in small highly related groups, irrespectively of
 group size. Therefore, our results indicate that policing effectiveness is
 simultaneously shaped by relatedness and group size, i.e. an ecological
 factor. This may have major implications for testing policing across
 species of animals.
description: Policing_and_worker_fecundity_dataWorker policing, queen policing, workers and queens fecundity, survival of worker-laid eggs and queen-laid eggs according to colony size (large colony: 100 workers, small colony: 40 workers) and relatedness among workers in a colony (homogeneous colony: r = 0.75, heterogeneous colony: r = 0.1875). We observed three behavioral patterns: fertile workers were (1) policed by workers, or (2) not policed but self-restrained from reproduction, or (3) non-policed and continued reproduction. We observed colonies where (1) all fertile workers were policed, (2) all fertile workers were not policed and continued reproduction, (3) all fertile workers were not policed but self-restrained from reproduction, and (4) mixture of policing, continued worker reproduction and self-restraint took place.Policing_duration_individual_ant_dataPolicing duration, dominance interactions duration, time of fertile worker exclusion from colony after reunion and time of fertile worker being killed after reunion according to colony size (large colony: 100 workers, small colony: 40 workers) and relatedness among workers (homogeneous colony: r = 0.75, heterogeneous colony: r = 0.1875). We counted worker immobilization by other workers and prolonged biting as policing acts (never observed in queenless colonies). We counted antennal boxing and short biting as dominance acts as such behavior was observed in queenless colonies.Colony_size_and_productivityProduction of new workers, males and female sexuals by 40 colonies of the ant Temnothorax unifasciatus. The colonies were collected in the field during hibernation time. After three months at artificial summer conditions (day/night: 12h/12h, 25oC/20oC) the colonies began to produce pupae of workers, males and female sexuals. All adults and the eclosing individuals were counted. The data are corrected for different body weight of freshly enclosed workers (0.107 mg), males (0.16 mg) and female sexuals (0.8 mg).