---
_id: '914'
abstract:
- lang: eng
  text: Infections with potentially lethal pathogens may negatively affect an individual’s
    lifespan and decrease its reproductive value. The terminal investment hypothesis
    predicts that individuals faced with a reduced survival should invest more into
    reproduction instead of maintenance and growth. Several studies suggest that individuals
    are indeed able to estimate their body condition and to increase their reproductive
    effort with approaching death, while other studies gave ambiguous results. We
    investigate whether queens of a perennial social insect (ant) are able to boost
    their reproduction following infection with an obligate killing pathogen. Social
    insect queens are special with regard to reproduction and aging, as they outlive
    conspecific non-reproductive workers. Moreover, in the ant Cardiocondyla obscurior,
    fecundity increases with queen age. However, it remained unclear whether this
    reflects negative reproductive senescence or terminal investment in response to
    approaching death. Here, we test whether queens of C. obscurior react to infection
    with the entomopathogenic fungus Metarhizium brunneum by an increased egg-laying
    rate. We show that a fungal infection triggers a reinforced investment in reproduction
    in queens. This adjustment of the reproductive rate by ant queens is consistent
    with predictions of the terminal investment hypothesis and is reported for the
    first time in a social insect.
acknowledgement: We thank two anonymous reviewers for helpful suggestions on the manuscript.
article_number: '170547'
article_processing_charge: No
author:
- first_name: Julia
  full_name: Giehr, Julia
  last_name: Giehr
- first_name: Anna V
  full_name: Grasse, Anna V
  id: 406F989C-F248-11E8-B48F-1D18A9856A87
  last_name: Grasse
- first_name: Sylvia
  full_name: Cremer, Sylvia
  id: 2F64EC8C-F248-11E8-B48F-1D18A9856A87
  last_name: Cremer
  orcid: 0000-0002-2193-3868
- first_name: Jürgen
  full_name: Heinze, Jürgen
  last_name: Heinze
- first_name: Alexandra
  full_name: Schrempf, Alexandra
  last_name: Schrempf
citation:
  ama: Giehr J, Grasse AV, Cremer S, Heinze J, Schrempf A. Ant queens increase their
    reproductive efforts after pathogen infection. <i>Royal Society Open Science</i>.
    2017;4(7). doi:<a href="https://doi.org/10.1098/rsos.170547">10.1098/rsos.170547</a>
  apa: Giehr, J., Grasse, A. V., Cremer, S., Heinze, J., &#38; Schrempf, A. (2017).
    Ant queens increase their reproductive efforts after pathogen infection. <i>Royal
    Society Open Science</i>. Royal Society, The. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1098/rsos.170547">https://doi.org/10.1098/rsos.170547</a>
  chicago: Giehr, Julia, Anna V Grasse, Sylvia Cremer, Jürgen Heinze, and Alexandra
    Schrempf. “Ant Queens Increase Their Reproductive Efforts after Pathogen Infection.”
    <i>Royal Society Open Science</i>. Royal Society, The, 2017. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1098/rsos.170547">https://doi.org/10.1098/rsos.170547</a>.
  ieee: J. Giehr, A. V. Grasse, S. Cremer, J. Heinze, and A. Schrempf, “Ant queens
    increase their reproductive efforts after pathogen infection,” <i>Royal Society
    Open Science</i>, vol. 4, no. 7. Royal Society, The, 2017.
  ista: Giehr J, Grasse AV, Cremer S, Heinze J, Schrempf A. 2017. Ant queens increase
    their reproductive efforts after pathogen infection. Royal Society Open Science.
    4(7), 170547.
  mla: Giehr, Julia, et al. “Ant Queens Increase Their Reproductive Efforts after
    Pathogen Infection.” <i>Royal Society Open Science</i>, vol. 4, no. 7, 170547,
    Royal Society, The, 2017, doi:<a href="https://doi.org/10.1098/rsos.170547">10.1098/rsos.170547</a>.
  short: J. Giehr, A.V. Grasse, S. Cremer, J. Heinze, A. Schrempf, Royal Society Open
    Science 4 (2017).
date_created: 2018-12-11T11:49:10Z
date_published: 2017-07-05T00:00:00Z
date_updated: 2023-09-26T15:45:47Z
day: '05'
ddc:
- '576'
- '592'
department:
- _id: SyCr
doi: 10.1098/rsos.170547
external_id:
  isi:
  - '000406670000025'
file:
- access_level: open_access
  checksum: 351ae5e7a37e6e7d9295cd41146c4190
  content_type: application/pdf
  creator: system
  date_created: 2018-12-12T10:08:24Z
  date_updated: 2020-07-14T12:48:15Z
  file_id: '4684'
  file_name: IST-2017-849-v1+1_2017_Grasse_Cremer_AntQueens.pdf
  file_size: 530412
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file_date_updated: 2020-07-14T12:48:15Z
has_accepted_license: '1'
intvolume: '         4'
isi: 1
issue: '7'
language:
- iso: eng
license: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
month: '07'
oa: 1
oa_version: Published Version
publication: Royal Society Open Science
publication_identifier:
  issn:
  - '20545703'
publication_status: published
publisher: Royal Society, The
publist_id: '6527'
pubrep_id: '849'
quality_controlled: '1'
related_material:
  record:
  - id: '9853'
    relation: research_data
    status: public
scopus_import: '1'
status: public
title: Ant queens increase their reproductive efforts after pathogen infection
tmp:
  image: /images/cc_by.png
  legal_code_url: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/legalcode
  name: Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International Public License (CC-BY 4.0)
  short: CC BY (4.0)
type: journal_article
user_id: c635000d-4b10-11ee-a964-aac5a93f6ac1
volume: 4
year: '2017'
...