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讨论(1):一蚁后制与多蚁后制系统的利弊
蚁司令 

蚂蚁的群体可以分为二个组: 单一创立者 (一蚁后制) 和多创立者(多蚁后制)一些蚁后与母巢的工蚁陪伴下建立一个新巢,而其蚁后靠它们自己亲自出马. 一蚁后制通常不需要来自母巢的工蚁的帮忙下建立巢穴的.相反，多蚁后制时常与一些来自母巢的工蚁的帮忙下建立巢穴的。

问题: 什么因素对这些不同的策略有利? 哪一系统更有效率? 哪个系统能产生比较多的子孙?

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2003-02-02.11:20:44
Re:
小豹子

呵呵，我个人认为带兵出来比较好……现在蜜蜂也是这个制度，成功率要高

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2003-02-04.16:24:18
re:
小豹子

蜜蜂的社会似乎更高等……你有看过科幻电影《星河战队》吗？那里的虫子也有分化，社会构成应该更像蚂蚁，哈哈
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2003-02-04.16:27:30
Re: 
小豹子

 就发展壮大蚁巢而言，多蚁后显然要优于单蚁后的，而且蚁巢对于蚁后的依赖会相对降低，蚁巢的寿命可以大大加长。不过单蚁后可以四处开花啊……时刻有新鲜的血液注入
不过就对于突发性事件的应付上我觉得单蚁后对于保存种群是有益的。我个人觉得最佳方式是蜜蜂的方式。
 
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2003-02-04.20:58:21
Re: 
蚁司令

我都同意你的说法:但事实并不是这么简单;我只是想看你的看法.(收入时按：小豹子当时差点晕过去:P

Nathan C. Koeniger
5351 South Garland Way
Littleton, CO 80123, USA
natek@holly.colostate.edu


Colonies can be separated into two groups: single foundress (monogyny) and multiple foundress (polygyny). Moreover, some queens are accompanied in nest founding by workers from the mother colony, while others do it on their own but later rely on their first offspring to help out (Tschinkel 209). Monogyny is often associated with queens who found a colony without the help of workers from the mother colony (Tsuji 84). Conversely, polygyny is often associated with queens that require the help of workers from the mother colony (Tsuji 84). This begs the question: what factors favor each of these different strategies (Tsuji 84)? Which system is more efficient? Which system yields a larger number of offspring?

One could conclude that polygyny is less advantageous than monogyny for individual queens; due to the fact that the degree of genetic relatedness of a queen to a worker is less in colonies that exhibit polygyny (Tsuji 83). Obviously, queens want their offspring to be as genetically similar to themselves as possible. Another disadvantage to polygyny is that queens may be aggressive toward one another after the first workers have hatched and some if not all less dominant queens may be killed by the workers (Sommer 287). This is the case in the ant Lasius niger (Sommer 287). Furthermore, polygynous queens reproductive period is shorter than that of monogynous queens (Tsuji 84). Monogynous queens produce more progeny over the course of their life span; which is also longer than that of polygynous queens (Tsuji 84).

On the other hand, polygyny must offer some advantage over monogyny or ants would not exhibit this behavior. For instance: "Polygyny is widespread in ants...(Ito 83)." In fact: "Sometimes polygynous and monogynous biotypes coexist, even within the same species... (Tsuji 84)."

[ 此消息由 蚁司令 在 2003-02-05.20:25:58 编辑过 ]
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2003-02-05.20:18:40
蚁司令

As a general rule, in the family Formicidae, colonies that develop quickly in the early stages are better off than those which are slower to develop and grow in size (Tschinkel 210). For example, in the fire ant, Solenopsis invicta, multiple queens often found a colony together (Tschinkel 209). This may give such a colony an advantage because larger numbers of workers can be produced quickly (Tschinkel 209). Also: "The major advantage that does accrue to multiple founding queens is that they produce larger initial broods and worker forces in less time than the solitary founding queens (Sommer 287)." This makes these colonies less susceptible to brood raiding by nearby colonies (Tschinkel 209). Tschinkel also reports that size of workers is less important than numbers of workers; when it comes to resisting brood raiding and attempting to raid other broods (209-210).

Another advantage to polygyny maybe the ability to eat other queens that have died or been killed. "Cannibal queens lost much less weight to produce a given number of minims than unfed control queens, and these minims were heavier (Tschinkel 209)." This simple experiment shows that cannibalism can help to insure greater reproductive success because cannibal queens can produce more progeny.

Still other ants such as those of the genus Harpegnathos exhibit a vastly different approach to nest building and colony foundation. These ants are considered primitive because they form relatively small colonies, they have a relatively simple nest structure and exhibit little or no worker specialization (Crosland 18). Indeed, these factors can be related to queen behavior. As one might expect, nests of these ants were found to contain only one or in a few cases two queens (Crosland 19). Not surprisingly, the queens varied little in morphology from the workers (Crosland 19). These ants have not been studied in detail (Crosland 18). Consequently, little is know about their methods of reproduction and colony foundation (Crosland 18). However, a recent study has shown that ants of the genus and species Harpegnathos saltator do in fact exhibit monogyny (Liebig 133). "Queens disperse by flight and found colonies alone (Liebig 133)." Strangely, workers are capable of producing offspring and do so in the event that the queen dies but they do not found colonies in the wild (Liebig 133).

Finally, some of the most primitive ants of the genus Pachycondyla have no distinct queens (Heinze 441). Instead, reproduction is controlled by a social hierarchy (Heinze 441). Many of the workers are fertile and lay eggs but all except the eggs of the most dominant individuals are eaten (Heinze 441, 442, 445).
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2003-02-06.09:49:31
Re:
小豹子

呵呵，多蚁后开店发迹快的确是一个竞争优势
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2003-02-06.10:56:00
re:
蚁司令

王常禄对于"一蚁后制的巢穴中存在多蚁后"提出的结论:

According Holldobler & Wilson (1990), the majority of the ant colonies are monogynous- only one functional queen in the nest. Polygyny (>1 functional queen in a nest) is much less common than monogyny. The reason of multiple queens in a colony can be: 1) several queens initiate the colony together (called pleometrosis); 2) one queen established a colony and others are added later by adoption or fusion with other colonies. Sometimes a colony produces alates and they become dealates. They are not true polygynous because the dealates are suppressed by the queen and do not lay eggs.

Many studies show that pleometrosis often leads to monogyny- the extra queens are killed eventually

Each species may be different in terms of the specific nature of poleometrosis. If you put two (or more) queens in the same container to start a colony, you may find they all survive for a long time or some may die quickly. However, you need to know whether it was died of health condition or as a result of fighting.Your findings on colony founding of different species will be interesting.

If you find lot of winged males and females and some dealated females, they may be from the same colony. The females shed their wings and come back to the colony. Males can mate with many females.


[ 此消息由 蚁司令 在 2003-02-08.09:25:18 编辑过 ]

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2003-02-07.11:18:52