A video-based study of the role of workers in the movement of queens in the polygynous ant Myrmica rubra

Workers have control over queen movement between cells, encouraging small groups of queens to join together to form a larger one. Single queens are more easily monoeuvred by the workers, compared to a group of queens, due to the loose arrangement of the workers surrounding the queen. Workers clustering around many queens are tightly compacted together, but are less compressed around a single queen. Some of the workers initiate colony activity by circulating each nest in an erratic, jerky manner and entering a cluster which is broken up as a result of the disturbance. The effects of worker/queen interactions in a natural nest are discussed.

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Résumé Les ouvrières contrôlent les mouvements des reines entre les cellules, encourageant les petits groupes à fusionner. Les reines isolées sont plus facilement manoeuvrées par les ouvrières que les groupes de reines, par suite de la disposition désordonnée des ouvrières entourant la reine. Les ouvrières groupées autour de nombreuses reines sont étroitement serrées ensemble, et le sont moins autour d'une reine isolée. Quelques ouvrières provoquent l'activité de la colonie en circulant d'une façon irrégulière et saccadée, et en entrant dans le groupe qui se désagrège à la suite de cette perturbation. Les effets des interactions entre ouvrières et reines dans un nid naturel sont discutés.

     

Recent activities of the Microbiology in Schools Advisory Committee

Ecology and evolution

Agricultural education

Evolution and education

Education division elections

ISII in Europe

Tree project

Science teaching scholarship

Biology of terrestrial arthropods

A microscopied museum     

Social control of egg-laying rate in queens of the fire ant, Solenopsis invicta*

ABSTRACT Social control of egg-laying rate in queens of the fire ant (Solenopsis invicta Buren) was studied by experimental manipulation of the number of larvae, pupae and workers in colonies, and the age and size of larvae and workers. Workers and pupae do not stimulate oviposition by queens. The number of fourth instar larvae, on the other hand, bears a positive log-log relationship to the queen's egg-laying rate. Such larvae are needed both to stimulate and maintain oviposition. Their withdrawal results, within 48 h, in a decline in queen oviposition almost to zero. Their addition to broodless nests results in peak laying in about 4 days. Larvae in the first three stadia and early in the fourth stadium have a much lower effect upon queen fecundity. Sexual larvae are only c. 5% as stimulating on a weight basis, but equivalent on an individual basis. Several associated measures are positively correlated to egg-laying rate: weight of the queen, the number of her vitellogenic follicles per ovariole, total vitellogenic follicles, the time she spends feeding and (usually) the number of workers in the retinue that cares for her. The egg volume is negatively correlated with laying rate, so that queens lay more eggs for the same expenditure of material as laying rate increases. As body size of workers increases, they become less effective in transmitting the larval stimulation to the queen, but worker age has no effect on this ability. For a given number of larvae, queens in small, naturally growing colonies lay fewer, larger eggs than do queens in experimental colonies, but their fecundity increases more rapidly in relation to number of larvae. When larvae are fed vital-dyed food in one experimental colony, and then transferred to an undyed colony, the dye is rapidly transferred to worker crops, and into the queen's eggs, indicating bulk movement of material from larvae to workers to the queen and eggs. Large larvae are more effective at this than small larvae. Fourth instar larvae may be a digestive and metabolic caste that processes protein for egg production by the queen. If that is the case, the queen and fourth instar larvae are linked in a positive feedback loop. Either the logarithmic relation of fecundity to larval numbers or physical limits of the queen may set the maximum egg-laying rate, and thus determine maximum colony size. The data do not allow a clear choice between these alternatives.     

The Social Environment of an Aggregating, Ant-Attended Treehopper (Hemiptera: Membracidae: Vanduzea arquata)

Many membracid treehoppers are attended by honeydew-harvesting ants. Ant mutualism often favors group living, which will in turn influence social interactios and communication. I investigated aspects of life history that underlie the social behavior of an aggregating, ant-attended treehopper. The number of adults, and their patterns of distribution, changes dramatically over the course of a season. Despite the relatively low vagility and high persistence in the same clump of host plants, individuals encounter a wide range of social environments. This aggregating species differs from solitary species in the clumped distribution of females, and possibly in the intensity of acoustic competition among males, but both aggregating and solitary species exhibit large temporal changes in density. A high degree of temporal and spatial variation in the social environment is probably characteristic of many insects and may be an important source of selection on insect communication.     

Eight-year study of social and ecological correlates of mortality among immature baboons of Mikumi National Park,Tanzania

The Cox Proportional Hazards Regression Model was used to examine ecological and sociodemographic correlates of mortality among 164 immature yellow baboons born over an 8-year period at Mikumi National Park, Tanzania. Ecological correlates were derived from seasonal rainfall. Mortality was lowest for immatures born during the late rainy season, when it was likely that nourishment for pregnant and lactating females was greatest. High mortality was associated with above-average rainfall early in the immature's first complete rainy season. This association may result from one or more of the following: exposure, increased ranging, or accelerated vegetation growth, each of which is thought to increase hazards for weanlings. When births for the 8 years of the study were pooled, a birth peak occurred during the early dry season. The larger number of births during a birth peak should intensify competition among mothers and among immatures. Mortality was greatest for immature females born during the season immediately following the birth peak, while lowest for immature females born during the season immediately preceding the peak. Immature female mortality was greatest when the troop size at birth was large, and was most severe for females born to low ranking mothers. The sociodemographic results are consistent with Wasser's hypothesis that cooperative attacks of female baboons upon other troop females suppress the others' reproduction and the vitality of their infants, thereby improving the relative competitive position of the attackers' own young.     

Genetic analysis of emotional reactivity in sheep: effects of the genotypes of the lambs and of their dams

A total of 1347 weaned lambs from eight genotypes were tested over five consecutive years: Romanov (ROM) and Lacaune (LAC) pure breeds, the two F1 crossbreeds (RL and LR) and the offspring of ewes from these four genotypes sired with Berrichon-du-Cher rams (BCF). The lambs were individually exposed to three challenging tests involving novelty, human contact and social isolation. Ten synthetic variables were used to express social reactivity (i.e., active vs. passive strategy), exploratory activity and reactivity to humans. BCF crossbreds were more active (i.e., high bleats, locomotion and attempts to escape) than purebreds and F1. In contrast, ROM expressed more passive responses (i.e., low bleats and vigilance postures) than LAC and BCF crossbreds. In addition, ROM approached a motionless human less and had longer flight distances to an approaching human than did LAC and BCF crossbreds. When restrained, ROM, and to a lesser extent B×ROM and B×LR, avoided human contact more than did LAC, RL and B×LAC. Most of these differences were explained by direct additive genetic effects while maternal influences or heterosis effects were rarely significant. The highest heritability was for high bleats (h² = 0.48). Females were more active and avoided human contact more than did males.     

可可西里地区藏羚的社群特征

藏羚(Pantholopshodgsoni)的集群类型有雌性群、雄性群、母仔群、雌雄混群和独羚5种形式。2002年7月～2003年12月,在可可西里地区沿青藏公路设立试验区,直接观察到936群次,计13795只次藏羚。藏羚的集群类型受到生育周期的影响,季节间差异显著。春季以雌性群(60.49%)和雄性群(30.86%)为主;夏季和秋季主要为雌性群(41.65%,49.66%)和母仔群(49.36%,33.67%);雌雄混群(58.14%)主要出现在冬季。雄性群在1年中很少见,尤其是夏秋两季,冬季较为常见,多由亚成体雄性组成。独羚是一种特殊的集群类型,占11.32%。常见的集群大小为2～20只,占71.90%,其次是21～200只的群,占16.35%;>200只的集群极少,仅占0.43%,且仅出现于夏季产羔往返迁徙途中。藏羚的集群大小受竞争、捕食风险以及迁徙繁殖的共同影响。藏羚的集群极不稳定,交配期雌雄混合群受雄性亚成体的干扰经常改变,而在迁徙季节大群和小群之间的转换也很频繁。大型集群为雌性群或母仔群,其最适集群大小为2～20只。     

How Spaniards Became Chumash and other Tales of Ethnogenesis

In the 1970s, a network of families from Santa Barbara, California, asserted local indigenous identities as "Chumash." However, we demonstrate that these families have quite different social histories than either they or supportive scholars claim. Rather than dismissing these neo-Chumash as anomalous "fakes," we place their claims to Chumash identity within their particular family social histories. We show that cultural identities in these family lines have changed a number of times over the past four centuries. These changes exhibit a range that is often not expected and render the emergence of neo-Chumash more comprehendible. The social history as a whole illustrates the ease and frequency with which cultural identities change and the contexts that foster change. In light of these data, scholars should question their ability to essentialize identity.