{ Ants and the City Can urban green spaces help preserve native ant metapopulations?
Feb 23, 2016
{Ants and the City
Can urban green spaces help preserve native ant metapopulations?
1.) Intro to ant biology2.) Why ants make good models for research/education3.) UEI project background/ methodology
Overview:
{Ant Biology
1.) Six legs2.) Three main body parts (head, thorax, abdomen)3.) One pair of antennae4.) Exoskeleton5.) Two pairs of wings****** Only reproductive ants have wings
Ants are insects
1.) Bent antenna2.) Petiole3.) Metapleural gland – secrets antibiotics
What distinguishes Ants?
Ants go through complete metamorphosis, from egg to larva to pupa to adult
Ants are Holometabolis
Ants are Social Insects
Ants are Eusocial
Most extreme form of sociality where some individuals in a group can not reproduce
Very few examples of Eusociality in nature:AntsBeesWaspsTermitesNaked mole rats
Ant colony consists of a queen and her daughters- Males only produced once per year
Ant colony consists of a queen and her daughters- Only the queen can reproduce
Ant colony consists of a queen and her daughters- Only the queen can reproduce????
Why do ant societies work?
In terms of natural selection, why would animals like worker ants evolve to be sterile?
???
Very few examples of Eusociality in nature:AntsBeesWaspsTermitesNaked mole rats
Very few examples of Eusociality in nature:AntsBeesWaspsTermitesNaked mole rats
Very few examples of Eusociality in nature:AntsBeesWaspsTermitesNaked mole rats
Order: Hymenoptera
The answer is in the genes..
In most diploid animals, both males and femaleshave two sets of genes – one from each parent
50% 50%
Brothers and Sisters are 50% related to each other
Hymenoptera are Haplo-Diploid
Female ants have two sets of genes, but malesonly have one.
50% 100%
Sister ants are 75% related to each other
Sisters are related by 75%, but mothers and daughters are only related by 50%
So an ant does a better job ofpassing on her genes by raisingsisters.
This also why many ants, bees, and wasps are so aggressive…
An individual does not need to beALIVE to pass on her genes, soshe is more willing to sacrificeherself for her colony.
This reproductive division of labor allows for physical specialization not seen in human societies:Humans and other mammalian societies
have behavioral specialization (different individuals do different tasks) but little to no matching physical specialization
Soldier Farmer Infant Caregiver
Ant societies can show extreme behavioral and physical specializationSelection mainly works at the level of the
colony, not the individual, so individual ants can be highly specialized to help their colony (like the different parts of the same body)
Soldier Farmer Brood Caregivers
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RH3KYBMpxOU
video on leafcutter ants
Matching of Behavior and Morphology in Leafcutter Castes
E.O. Wilson, 1980
Other examples of extreme physical castes in ants:
Army ant soldier caste:Specialized for defense against large vertebrates
Honeypot AntRepletes:Specialized for food storage in desert climates
Trap-jaw ant hunters:Specialized for trapping fast moving prey
Jaw movement is currently one of the faster animal movement known!
http://www.berkeley.edu/news/media/releases/2006/08/21_ant_video.shtml
Video on trap jaw ants escape behavior