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Ant Ecology

Ants Can Identify A Nestmate Or An Alien In The Nest

Ant colonies are typically founded by one or a few queens. These queens produce all of the worker ants. Workers are responsible for finding food, caring for immature ants, and defending the nest. Ant ecology is greatly influenced by competition; in fact, it is perhaps the primary force determining colony size and organization. Given such competition, ants must be able to discriminate between members of their own colony (i.e., nestmates) and members from other colonies (i.e., non-nestmates). This ability to recognize nestmates--as opposed to aliens--is primarily mediated through chemical signals.

Ants, in general, have attained considerable ecological dominance. Their diversity results, for the most part, from efficient social organization and the ability to communicate effectively (H÷lldobler 19-21). Ant colonies are functionally divided into reproductive and sterile castes. Moreover, there is cooperation in rearing the young, gathering food, defending the nest, and exploring new foraging grounds. For example, ants that have located food are able to initiate a mass recruitment of nestmates. In addition, "army ants" (i.e. members of the subfamilies Aenictinae, Dorylinae, and Ecitoninae) mobilize large numbers of workers and search for prey (Ward 319). Such abilities require highly developed communication systems (Franks 139).

Ant societies are regulated by the "precise transmission of social signals in time and space (H÷lldobler 19-21)." In large colonies, this regulation must involve "'unifying cues' shared by all workers (Obin & Meer 1361-1368)." These cues make it possible for members of a colony to identify their nestmates (Morel & Blum 718). This not only allows individual ants to be integrated into their colony, but it also provides a mechanism by which foreigners may be excluded (Morel & Blum 718).

The interaction of conspecific adults fro...

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Ant Ecology. (1969, December 31). In LotsofEssays.com. Retrieved 06:38, March 28, 2024, from https://www.lotsofessays.com/viewpaper/1692574.html