The economic strategies of superorganisms - data and code

Ecological strategy schemes are a unifying concept in plant trait research, explaining significant variation in global trait-climate patterns. Applying these concepts to other taxonomic groups could progress the field towards a general theory of ecological trait-strategy dimensions. Social insects, as central placed, colonial invertebrates, provide a parallel to test ecological strategy theory across animal and plant kingdoms. Workers are analogous to leaves - responsible for energy and resource acquisition. Here, we explore whether the leaf economic spectrum, which places leaves on a spectrum from slow to fast return on investment of energy, mass, and nutrients, could be applied to ants. We gathered trait data on N and P levels, metabolic rate, mass density, and lifespan, which we hypothesise to capture a worker economic spectrum, from 123 ant species across a 1500 km climate and soil nutrient gradient in South-Eastern Australia. We used multi-response phylogenetic mixed models to examine trait covariation and trait-environment associations. More densely built and larger ants lived longer, had slower mass-specific metabolic rates, and high N:P ratios representing a strategy of high investment and slow resource return. On the other end of the spectrum, flimsy, small ants were short-lived, with higher mass-specific metabolic rates, and low N:P ratios representing a low investment, fast-paced strategy. Modulation of trait-trait relationships by climate and environment was moderate indicating that the full spectrum of economic strategies persists within all sites. Social insects and plants have tackled economic trade-offs in remarkably similar ways, supporting the generalisation of ecological strategy theory across kingdoms.生态策略框架是植物性状研究领域的统一化核心概念，能够解释全球尺度下性状与气候关联格局的显著变异。将此类概念拓展至其他生物分类类群，可推动该领域迈向涵盖生态性状-策略维度的普适性理论。社会性昆虫作为具有中央栖居特性的群居无脊椎动物，为跨动植物界验证生态策略理论提供了平行研究范式。其工蚁类比于植物叶片，负责能量与资源的获取。本研究旨在探究：将以能量、质量及养分投资回报快慢为梯度的叶经济谱（Leaf Economic Spectrum）能否应用于蚁类研究。我们从澳大利亚东南部横跨1500公里的气候与土壤养分梯度区域内的123个蚁类物种中，采集了氮（N）、磷（P）含量、代谢速率、体质量密度以及寿命等性状数据，并假设这些数据可用于构建工蚁经济谱。本研究采用多响应系统发育混合模型，分析性状间的协同变异以及性状与环境的关联关系。研究发现，体躯更紧实、体型更大的蚁类寿命更长，其单位体质量代谢速率更低，且氮磷比（N:P）更高，这代表了高投入、慢资源回报的生态策略。而在该谱的另一端，体型纤细、个体娇小的蚁类寿命更短，单位体质量代谢速率更高，氮磷比更低，对应低投入、快节奏的生态策略。气候与环境对性状间关联的调控作用中等，表明所有样地中均完整保留了各类经济策略的谱系。社会性昆虫与植物在应对经济权衡问题上展现出高度相似的演化路径，这支持了生态策略理论可跨生物界推广的结论。