Data from: No inbreeding depression but increased sexual investment in highly inbred ant colonies

Inbreeding can lead to the expression of deleterious recessive alleles and to a subsequent fitness reduction. In Hymenoptera, deleterious alleles are purged in haploid males moderating inbreeding costs. However, in these haplo-diploid species, inbreeding can result in the production of sterile diploid males. We investigated the effects of inbreeding on the individual and colony level in field colonies of the highly inbred ant Hypoponera opacior. In this species, outbreeding winged sexuals and nest-mating wingless sexuals mate during two separate reproductive periods. We show that regular sib-matings lead to high levels of homozygosity and the occasional production of diploid males, which sporadically sire triploid offspring. On the individual level, inbreeding was associated with an increased body size in workers. On the colony level, we found no evidence for inbreeding depression as productivity was unaffected by the level of homozygosity. Instead, inbred colonies altered their allocation strategies by investing more resources into sexuals than into workers. This shift towards sexual production was due to an increased investment in both males and queens, which was particularly pronounced in the dispersive generation. The absence of inbreeding depression combined with increased reproductive investment, especially in outbreeding sexuals, suggest that these ants have evolved active strategies to regulate the extent and effects of frequent inbreeding.Microsatellite DataMicrosatellite data of the individuals genotyped from the nests used for the analysis of inbreeding effects. seasons: "1" = summer, "2" = fall; castes: "1" = worker, "2" =queen, "5" = maleMSDataDiploidmalesMicrosatellite Data of diploid males (N=66). 9 diploid males stemmed from 7 of the the nests used for the analysis of inbreeding effects (nests collected in 2010). The other 57 diploid males stemmed from nests collected in 2011.Male sizesMorphometric data on males. Season: "1" = summer (winged males), "2" = Fall (wingless males)scr_MolEcol2012R-script for analyses of inbreeding effectsdt_HL_ColAllocInput file for R-Script. Analysis of the effect of inbreeding on allocation and numeric investment ratios.dt_HL_ColProdInput file for R-script. Analysis of the effect of inbreeding on colony productivity.dt_HL_IndSizeInput file for R-script. Analysis of the effect of inbreeding on the individual level