In sessile organisms such as plants and benthic invertebrates, founding propagules typically suffer extremely high rates of mortality due to both extrinsic and intrinsic factors. Many social insect species share similarities with these groups, but factors influencing early colony survival are relatively unstudied. We used a field experiment to measure the importance of environmental quality relative to intrinsic colony properties in the harvester ant, Pogonomyrmex occidentalis, by monitoring the survival of 584 experimental colonies. We measured survival of transplanted colonies over four months in each of three years (2014–2016) at a site in western Colorado. Colony survival was primarily determined by colony features. Multiple mating by the queen and larger colony size at the time of transplant increased survival, but queen size, maternal lineage and the composition of plant species in the vicinity of the colony did not. Food supplementation increased survival significantly when natural food was scarce, but was not consistently beneficial, in contrast to predictions. Our results emphasize the general importance of rapid growth and early attainment of large size in the survival of sessile species. However, attributes specific to ants that are a consequence of their sociality also strongly affected survival. Colonies with multiply-mated queens were more likely to survive over a wide range of circumstances, highlighting the importance of this trait even at the early stages of colony life.

中文翻译：

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大而多样的好处：收割机蚂蚁的早期群体生存

在植物和底栖无脊椎动物等固着生物中，由于外在和内在因素，繁殖体通常会遭受极高的死亡率。许多社会昆虫物种与这些群体有相似之处，但影响早期群体生存的因素相对没有研究。我们使用现场实验来测量环境质量相对于收割蚁Pogonomyrmex occidentalis 的内在菌落特性的重要性，通过监测 584 个实验菌落的存活率。我们在科罗拉多州西部的一个地点测量了三年（2014-2016 年）每年四个月内移植菌落的存活率。菌落存活主要由菌落特征决定。女王多次交配和移植时较大的菌落大小增加了存活率，但女王的大小、母系谱系和菌落附近植物物种的组成没有。与预测相反，当天然食物稀缺但并非始终有益时，食物补充剂可显着提高存活率。我们的研究结果强调了快速生长和早期获得大尺寸在固着物种生存中的普遍重要性。然而，蚂蚁特有的属性是其社会性的结果，也强烈影响了生存。