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Caste In Ant Colonies: How Fate Is Determined Between Workers And Queens

Date:
October 25, 2008
Source:
University of Chicago Press Journals
Summary:
In colonies of social insects the struggle for the spoils is embodied by a reproductive division of labor. Some individuals (the queens) reproduce, while large and small workers provide the labor. Larvae become different castes (small workers, large workers, or new queens) based on genetics, nutrition, and environment (colony size). However the relative importance of each factor was different for each caste.
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"The history of all past society has consisted in the development of class antagonisms…the exploitation of one part of society by the other". – Karl Marx and Frederick Engels, The Communist Manifesto.

Although diversity in social groups can increase group well being, it also may increase the potential for conflict. All societies are characterized by struggles for control: which individuals gain the spoils and which toil in the fields. In colonies of social insects this struggle is embodied by a reproductive division of labor. Some individuals (the queens) reproduce, while the workers provide the labor that maintains colony function. In many social insects queens enjoy nearly complete control over reproduction and workers have diversified in form and function to increase their efficiency at performing different labors.

How, then, is it determined which individuals, as developing larvae, becoming queens or different types of workers?

A collaborative research team of scientists at four universities has found that caste determination in the Florida harvester ant is much more than meets the eye. Larvae become different castes (small workers, large workers, or new queens) based largely on the nutrition they receive. Those fed more insects than seeds are more likely to become larger individuals (queen>large worker>small worker). However, genetic differences also contribute and bias the larva's developmental pathway. Even once caste is determined, nutritional, social (colony size), and genetic factors all contribute, but in different ways, to how big an individual grows.

"Caste determination in most social insects likely involves both nature and nurture, but most interestingly in this species, these two forces contribute differently in different castes," says lead researcher Chris R. Smith of the University of Illinois.

Although genetic factors contribute to what caste an individual becomes, the environment of the larva is controlled by the workers. Quite generally, ant colonies are supreme examples of both conflict and cooperation – each extreme of the nature-nurture continuum.


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Materials provided by University of Chicago Press Journals. Note: Content may be edited for style and length.


Journal Reference:

  1. Smith et al. Caste Determination in a Polymorphic Social Insect: Nutritional, Social, and Genetic Factors.. The American Naturalist, 2008; 172 (4): 497 DOI: 10.1086/590961

Cite This Page:

University of Chicago Press Journals. "Caste In Ant Colonies: How Fate Is Determined Between Workers And Queens." ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, 25 October 2008. <www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/10/081021093944.htm>.
University of Chicago Press Journals. (2008, October 25). Caste In Ant Colonies: How Fate Is Determined Between Workers And Queens. ScienceDaily. Retrieved March 28, 2024 from www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/10/081021093944.htm
University of Chicago Press Journals. "Caste In Ant Colonies: How Fate Is Determined Between Workers And Queens." ScienceDaily. www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/10/081021093944.htm (accessed March 28, 2024).

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