The relationship between brood mass and the different mite density treatment.

<p>Means ± SE are raw values.</p

The relationship between the brood mass (g) and the mass of the prepared carcass (g).

<p>The graph shows the linear regression between the raw values, separated by the mite treatment.</p

Results from the final models for each variable analysed using the 'summary' function.

<p><i>n</i> = 24 for the 'without mites' treatment, <i>n</i> = 28 for the 'four mites' treatment, <i>n</i> = 28 for the 'ten mites' treatment, <i>n</i> = 27 for the 'sixteen mites' treatment. Final models are shown.</p

Parent-offspring conflict over the trade-off between offspring size and number.

<p>a) Empirical analyses reveal that selection can act differently on genes in parents and offspring in the longer term to favour a different optimal balance between offspring size and brood size. Optimal outcomes for each party are labelled: offspring ‘win’ and parents ‘win’. b) Fluctuating ecological conditions can temporarily favour one party by changing the positioning of the size-number trade-off. In some scenarios, it may be temporarily aligned closer to the offspring’s optimum (as illustrated here), in others it remains closer to the parent’s optimum. c) In some situations, ecological conditions might even impose an outcome that is closer to the offspring’s optimum and against the parent’s evolutionary interest. d) Alternatively, fluctuating ecological conditions might change the gradient of the trade-off. At one extreme (shown with the green line), caused by very high food abundance for example, it may remove any conflict over offspring size completely because the optima for parents and offspring are temporarily closely aligned. At the other extreme (shown with the red line), caused by sudden limited food availability for example, it may temporarily prevent offspring from ever attaining investment close to their optimum.</p

The relationship between the average larvae mass (g) and the total brood size (number of larvae was for each mite treatment).

<p>The graph shows the linear regression between the raw values, separated by the mite treatment.</p

The relationship between the brood mass (g) and the mass of the prepared carcass (g), after removing four extreme values in the '10 mite' treatment.

<p>The graph shows the linear regression between the raw values, separated by the mite treatment.</p

The relationship between the change in carcass mass after its preparation and larval mass at dispersal.

<p>Only broods from the '16 mite' treatment, and with fewer than 20 larvae per brood are presented. Means ± SE are raw values.</p

Results from the final models for each variable analysed using the 'Anova' function.

<p><i>n</i> = 24 for the 'without mites' treatment, <i>n</i> = 28 for the 'four mites' treatment, <i>n</i> = 28 for the 'ten mites' treatment, <i>n</i> = 27 for the 'sixteen mites' treatment. Final models are shown.</p

The relationship between the treatment and the number of dead larvae.

<p>The graph shows the mean ± SE from the raw values.</p

Additional statistical analyses and results from: "Winter is coming: harsh environments limit independent reproduction of cooperative-breeding queens in a socially polymorphic ant"

Supplementary material, including details of additional statistical analyses and results regarding survival and fecundity before winter, additional results regarding survival and fecundity after winter: population of origin and survival of queens, and supplementary figure 1