---
_id: '12696'
abstract:
- lang: eng
  text: "Background: Fighting disease while fighting rivals exposes males to constraints
    and tradeoffs during male-male competition. We here tested how both the stage
    and intensity of infection with the fungal pathogen Metarhizium robertsii interfered
    with fighting success in Cardiocondyla obscurior ant males. Males of this species
    have evolved long lifespans during which they can gain many matings with the young
    queens of the colony, if successful in male-male competition. Since male fights
    occur inside the colony, the outcome of male-male competition can further be biased
    by interference of the colony’s worker force.\r\nResults: We found that severe,
    but not yet mild, infection strongly impaired male fighting success. In late-stage
    infection, this could be attributed to worker aggression directed towards the
    infected rather than the healthy male and an already very high male morbidity
    even in the absence of fighting. Shortly after pathogen exposure, however, male
    mortality was particularly increased during combat. Since these males mounted
    a strong immune response, their reduced fighting success suggests a trade-off
    between immune investment and competitive ability already early in the infection.
    Even if the males themselves showed no difference in the number of attacks they
    raised against their healthy rivals across infection stages and levels, severely
    infected males were thus losing in male-male competition from an early stage of
    infection on.\r\nConclusions: Males of the ant C. obscurior have evolved high
    immune investment, triggering an effective immune response very fast after fungal
    exposure. This allows them to cope with mild pathogen exposures without cost to
    their success in male-male competition, and hence to gain multiple mating opportunities
    with the emerging virgin queens of the colony. Under severe infection, however,
    they are weak fighters and rarely survive a combat already at early infection
    when raising an immune response, as well as at progressed infection, when they
    are morbid and preferentially targeted by worker aggression. Workers thereby remove
    males that pose a future disease threat by biasing male-male competition. Our
    study thus revealed a novel social immunity mechanism how social insect workers
    protect the colony against disease risk."
acknowledged_ssus:
- _id: LifeSc
acknowledgement: "We are thankful to Mike Bidochka for the fungal strain, Lukas Schrader
  for sharing the C. obscurior genome data for primer development, the Lab Support
  Facility of ISTA for general laboratory support and help with the permit approval
  procedures, and the Finca El Quinto for letting us collect ants on their property.
  We thank the Social Immunity Team at ISTA for help with ant collection and experimental
  help, in particular Elina Hanhimäki and Marta Gorecka for behavioural observation,
  and Elisabeth Naderlinger for spore load PCRs. We further thank the Social Immunity
  Team and Jürgen Heinze for continued discussion and comments on the manuscript.\r\nOpen
  access funding provided by Institute of Science and Technology Austria (ISTA). This
  project received funding from the European Research Council (ERC) under the European
  Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme (grant agreement No 771402
  to SC). "
article_number: '37'
article_processing_charge: Yes
article_type: original
author:
- first_name: Sina
  full_name: Metzler, Sina
  id: 48204546-F248-11E8-B48F-1D18A9856A87
  last_name: Metzler
  orcid: 0000-0002-9547-2494
- first_name: Jessica
  full_name: Kirchner, Jessica
  id: 21516227-15aa-11ec-9fb2-c6e8ffc155d3
  last_name: Kirchner
- 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
citation:
  ama: Metzler S, Kirchner J, Grasse AV, Cremer S. Trade-offs between immunity and
    competitive ability in fighting ant males. <i>BMC Ecology and Evolution</i>. 2023;23.
    doi:<a href="https://doi.org/10.1186/s12862-023-02137-7">10.1186/s12862-023-02137-7</a>
  apa: Metzler, S., Kirchner, J., Grasse, A. V., &#38; Cremer, S. (2023). Trade-offs
    between immunity and competitive ability in fighting ant males. <i>BMC Ecology
    and Evolution</i>. Springer Nature. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1186/s12862-023-02137-7">https://doi.org/10.1186/s12862-023-02137-7</a>
  chicago: Metzler, Sina, Jessica Kirchner, Anna V Grasse, and Sylvia Cremer. “Trade-Offs
    between Immunity and Competitive Ability in Fighting Ant Males.” <i>BMC Ecology
    and Evolution</i>. Springer Nature, 2023. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1186/s12862-023-02137-7">https://doi.org/10.1186/s12862-023-02137-7</a>.
  ieee: S. Metzler, J. Kirchner, A. V. Grasse, and S. Cremer, “Trade-offs between
    immunity and competitive ability in fighting ant males,” <i>BMC Ecology and Evolution</i>,
    vol. 23. Springer Nature, 2023.
  ista: Metzler S, Kirchner J, Grasse AV, Cremer S. 2023. Trade-offs between immunity
    and competitive ability in fighting ant males. BMC Ecology and Evolution. 23,
    37.
  mla: Metzler, Sina, et al. “Trade-Offs between Immunity and Competitive Ability
    in Fighting Ant Males.” <i>BMC Ecology and Evolution</i>, vol. 23, 37, Springer
    Nature, 2023, doi:<a href="https://doi.org/10.1186/s12862-023-02137-7">10.1186/s12862-023-02137-7</a>.
  short: S. Metzler, J. Kirchner, A.V. Grasse, S. Cremer, BMC Ecology and Evolution
    23 (2023).
date_created: 2023-02-28T07:38:17Z
date_published: 2023-08-07T00:00:00Z
date_updated: 2023-12-13T11:13:14Z
day: '07'
ddc:
- '570'
department:
- _id: SyCr
doi: 10.1186/s12862-023-02137-7
ec_funded: 1
external_id:
  isi:
  - '001042643600002'
  pmid:
  - '37550612'
file:
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  content_type: application/pdf
  creator: dernst
  date_created: 2023-08-14T07:51:47Z
  date_updated: 2023-08-14T07:51:47Z
  file_id: '14048'
  file_name: 2023_BMCEcology_Metzler.pdf
  file_size: 2004276
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file_date_updated: 2023-08-14T07:51:47Z
has_accepted_license: '1'
intvolume: '        23'
isi: 1
language:
- iso: eng
month: '08'
oa: 1
oa_version: Published Version
pmid: 1
project:
- _id: 2649B4DE-B435-11E9-9278-68D0E5697425
  call_identifier: H2020
  grant_number: '771402'
  name: Epidemics in ant societies on a chip
publication: BMC Ecology and Evolution
publication_identifier:
  issn:
  - 2730-7182
publication_status: published
publisher: Springer Nature
quality_controlled: '1'
related_material:
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  - id: '12693'
    relation: research_data
    status: public
scopus_import: '1'
status: public
title: Trade-offs between immunity and competitive ability in fighting ant males
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: 2DF688A6-F248-11E8-B48F-1D18A9856A87
volume: 23
year: '2023'
...