title: A trade-off between antipredatory behavior and pairing competition produced by male-male tandem running in three Reticulitermes species.
abstract: Due to the omnipresent risk of predation, termites have evolved many antipredatory behaviors. The two related species Reticulitermes speratus and R. chinensis have been demonstrated to use homosexual tandem running to decrease individual predation risk after shedding their wings. In this study, we tested risk of predation in the termite R. flaviceps, which is distantly related to the above two species. We determined that homosexual tandem running also led to low individual predation risk in dealates of R. flaviceps. Moreover, by combining a predation model with a competition model, we observed a typical trade-off phenomenon between antipredatory behavior and pairing competition produced by male-male tandem running in the above three Reticulitermes species. Our results indicated that male-male tandem running could effectively protect disadvantaged individuals from being caught, but disadvantaged individuals would be easily eliminated in pairing competition after male-male tandem running, suggesting that male-male tandem running can promote population evolution in termites by repeatedly removing the relatively inferior male individuals.
authors: Gang-Hua
authors: GH
authors: Li
authors: Long
authors: L
authors: Liu
authors: Hubei Insect Resource Utilization and Sustainable Pest Management Key Laboratory, Huazhong Agricultural University, Wuhan 430070, China.
authors: Chao-Liang
authors: CL
authors: Lei
authors: Hubei Insect Resource Utilization and Sustainable Pest Management Key Laboratory, Huazhong Agricultural University, Wuhan 430070, China.
authors: Qiu-Ying
authors: QY
authors: Huang
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001000:Ants / Q000502:physiology; D005260:Female; D020049:Isoptera / Q000502:physiology*; D008297:Male; D008962:Models, Theoretical; D011235:Predatory Behavior; D012420:Running; D012726:Sexual Behavior, Animal; D012919:Social Behavior
keywords: antipredatory behavior; pairing competition; tandem running termites; trade-off