Rob Hammond University of Lausanne, Switzerland Title Conflict and Harmony: testing kin selection theory in social insects Abstract Social insect societies have long been used as an example of harmonious social living, and one that human societies can learn from. However, as insect societies are non-clonal, Hamilton’s theory of kin-selection predicts conflict as well as cooperation. This is because the haplo-diploid sex determination mechanism found in hymenoptera leads to asymmetrical patterns of relatedness within colonies. For example, in a colony headed by one queen, mated with one un-related male, female workers are three times more closely related to their sisters (r=0.75) than to their brothers (r=0.25), whereas queens are equally related to their sons and daughters (r=0.5). In such colonies conflict is predicted between queens and workers over the sex ratio and over who - workers or the queen - produces male sexual offspring. These relatedness asymmetries, and therefore the predictions kin selection makes about conflicts, are altered if colonies are headed by multiple related queens – a condition known as polygyny. In my talk I will discus work investigating kin selected conflicts over both sex ratio (Hammond et al. 2002) and male parentage (Hammond et al. 2003) in an ant, Leptothorax acervorum, which has colonies headed either by one or a few queens. I will also talk about a comparative analysis (Hammond & Keller 2004) that tests whether patterns of relatedness within colonies explains patterns of male parentage in social hymenoptera more generally.   Biography Postdocs Reproductive conflicts in social insects 2002-now: Dept. Ecology and Evolution, University of Lausanne, Switzerland 1998-2001 Institute of Zoology, Zoological Society of London, UK   Conservation genetics 1995-1998: Field Conservation and Consultancy, Zoological Society of London, UK PhD Population genetics of the moth Noctua pronuba 1990-1995: Oxford Brookes University, Oxford, UK BSc in Biology Reproductive conflicts in social insects     Publications Hammond, R. L., Bruford, M. W. & Bourke, A. F. G. 2002 Ant workers selfishly bias sex ratios by manipulating female development. Proceedings of the Royal Society of London Series B 269, 173-178. Hammond, R. L., Bruford, M. W. & Bourke, A. F. G. 2003 Male parentage does not vary with colony kin structure in a multiple-queen ant. Journal of Evolutionary Biology 16, 446-455. Hammond, R. L. & Keller, L. 2004 Conflict over male parentage in social insects. PLoS Biology 2, e248. R.L.Hammond*, L.J.Lawson Handley*, B.J.Winney, M.W.Bruford & N. Perrin. Genetic evidence for female-biased dispersal and gene flow in a polygynous primate. Submitted to Proceedings of the Royal Society of London series B. (*joint first authors) L.J.Lawson Handley*, R.L.Hammond*, G. Emaresi, A. Reber & N. Perrin. Low Y chromosome polymorphism in Saudi-Arabian hamadryas baboons (Papio hamadryas hamadryas). Submitted to Journal of Heredity. (*joint first authors) R.L.Hammond, B.J.Winney, W.Macasero, B.Flores, A.Boug, W.Scheffrahn, V.Biquand, S.Biquand, M.W.Bruford. Kin structure in Saudi Arabia hamadryas baboons, Papio hamadryas hamadryas. In review at: Behavioural Ecology and Sociobiology. Z.J.J.M. Pereboom, W.C. Jordan, S.Sumner, R.L. Hammond, and A.F.G. Bourke (2005) Differential gene expression in queen-worker caste determination in bumblebees. In press Proceedings of the Royal Society of London series B. R.L.Hammond & L.Keller (2004) Conflict over male parentage in social insects. PLoS Biology 2: e248. B.J.Winney*, R.L.Hammond*, W.Macasero, B.Flores, A.Boug, V.Biquand, S.Biquand, M.W.Bruford (2004) Crossing the Red Sea: phylogeography of the hamadryas baboon, Papio hamadryas hamadryas. Molecular Ecology 13: 2819-2827 (*joint first authors). R.L.Hammond, M.W.Bruford & A.F.G.Bourke (2003) Male parentage does not vary with colony kin structure in a multiple-queen ant. Journal of Evolutionary Biology 16: 446-455. K.A.Holehouse, R.L.Hammond & A.F.G.Bourke (2003) Non-lethal sampling of DNA from captive and free-foraging bumble bees for conservation genetics. Insectes Sociaux 50: 277-285. R.L.Hammond, M.W.Bruford & A.F.G.Bourke (2002) Ant workers selfishly bias sex ratios by manipulating female development. Proceedings of the Royal Society of London series B. 269: 173-178. M.A.Jordan, R.L.Hammond, H.L.Snell, H.M.Snell & W.C.Jordan (2002) Isolation and characterisation of microsatellite loci from Galapagos lava lizards (Microlophus spp.). Molecular Ecology Notes 2: 349-351 R.L.Hammond, A.F.G.Bourke & M.W.Bruford (2001) Mating frequency and mating system in the polygynous ant, Leptothorax acervorum. Molecular Ecology 10: 2719-2728 R.L. Hammond, W.Macasero, B.Flores, O.B.Mohammed, T.W.Wacher and M.W.Bruford (2001) Phylogenetic re-analysis of the Saudi gazelle and its implications for conservation. Conservation Biology 15: 1123-1133. R.L.Hammond, I.J. Saccheri, C.Ciofi, T.Coote, S.M.Funk, W.O. McMillan, M.K.Bayes, E. Taylor, and M.W.Bruford (1998) Isolation of microsatellite markers in animals. pp279-285. In Molecular Tools for Screening Biodiversity Eds A.Karp, P.G.Isaac and D.S.Ingram. Chapman and Hall, London. C.Ciofi, S.M.Funk, T.Coote, D.J.Cheesman, R.L.Hammond, I.J.Saccheri and M.W.Bruford (1998) Genotyping with microsatellite markers. pp195-201. In Molecular Tools for Screening Biodiversity Eds A.Karp, P.G.Isaac and D.S.Ingram. Chapman and Hall, London.   Rob.Hammond@unil.ch