Fig. 3

Effects of founder number on colony fitness metrics and population structure. a Time to bust decreases with increasing founder number. Means ± S.D. of 3 biological replicates. One-way ANOVA with Tukey’s multiple comparisons test. 1 vs 3, p = 0.0260; 1 vs 10, p = 0.0003; 1 vs 50, p < 0.0001; 1 vs 200, p < 0.0001; 3 vs 10, p = 0.0500; 3 vs 50, p = 0.011; 3 vs 200, p = < 0.0001; 10 vs 50, p = 0.1432 ns; 10 vs 200, p = 0.0023; 50 vs 200, p = 0.1139 ns. b Dauer yield (72 hr post bust) is highest in populations started with 3 founders. Means ± S.D. of at least 7 biological replicates. 3 vs 1, p = 0.0033; 3 vs 10, p = < 0.0001; 3 vs 50, p < 0.0001; 3 vs 200, p < 0.0001. c Dauer yield peaks at 144 hr after population bust (3 founders, 25 °C). Means ± S.D. of at least 5 biological replicates. d Dauer yield is greatest given 3 founders. Estimates of dauer yield given 1, 3 or 50 founders up to 168 hr after population bust. Means ± S.D. of 3 biological replicates. Two-way ANOVA with Tukey’s multiple comparisons test. 96 hr: 1 vs 3, p = 0.0073; 3 vs 50, p = 0.0083. 120 hr: 1 vs 3, p < 0.0001; 3 vs 50, p < 0.0001. 144 hr: 1 vs 3, p < 0.0001; 1 vs 50, p = 0.0135; 3 vs 50, p < 0.0001. 168 hr: 1 vs 3, p < 0.0001; 1 vs 50, p = 0.0014; 3 vs 50, p < 0.0001. e Increase in dauer length at 144 hr post bust. Line at mean (n > 15 worms per time point). One-way ANOVA with Tukey’s multiple comparisons test. Plots marked with different letters are significantly different from each other. Raw data for Fig. 3a-e is available in Supplementary dataset 1