Sporadic Infection ofWolbachiain a Recently Established Population ofFormica fusca

摘要

This study examines the distribution and invasion dynamics ofWolbachiain a recently establishedFormica fuscapopulation. Preliminary data revealed the intermittent infection ofWolbachiaacross colonies, providing the opportunity to test for ecological factors affecting the acquisition and spread of the parasite. Only 35% of colonies are infected in this population. Both infected and noninfected nests have similar dispersion patterns that approximate a random distribution, suggesting that transmission ofWolbachiabetween adjacent colonies is not common. There is no difference in the infection rate between workers and brood, indicating that workers are not actively eliminating the infection. Our results show no significant association betweenWolbachiainfection and nest size; however, infected colonies tend to be larger than noninfected colonies. Finally,Wolbachiainfection was not associated with queen number. Overall, our results suggest no large fitness differences between infected and noninfected colonies, although small fitness effects cannot be ruled out for this population.