Lazy workers are necessary for long-term sustainability in insect societies.
Lazy workers are necessary for long-term sustainability in insect societies.
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DOI：
10.1038/srep20846
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发表时间：
2016-02-16
影响因子：
4.6
通讯作者：
Yoshimura J
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Hasegawa E;Ishii Y;Tada K;Kobayashi K;Yoshimura J
优化理论预测社会性昆虫群体的生产力最大化，但在蚁群中发现许多不活跃的工人。事实上，蚁群的短期生产力低往往是工人之间的阈值响应任务相关的刺激高度变化的结果。为什么在自然选择的作用下，殖民地的这种低效率策略得以维持？在这里，我们表明，不活跃的工人是必要的殖民地的长期可持续性。我们的模拟表明，可变阈值的殖民地持续时间比那些不变的阈值，因为不活跃的工人执行的关键功能，取代活跃的工人，当他们变得疲劳。在蚁群中发现了活跃的工蚁被不活跃的工蚁取代的证据。因此，不活跃的工蜂的存在增加了殖民地的长期存活，但代价是降低了短期的生产力。不活跃的工人可能代表了一种赌注对冲策略，以应对环境的随机性。
Optimality theory predicts the maximization of productivity in social insect colonies, but many inactive workers are found in ant colonies. Indeed, the low short-term productivity of ant colonies is often the consequence of high variation among workers in the threshold to respond to task-related stimuli. Why is such an inefficient strategy among colonies maintained by natural selection? Here, we show that inactive workers are necessary for the long-term sustainability of a colony. Our simulation shows that colonies with variable thresholds persist longer than those with invariable thresholds because inactive workers perform the critical function of replacing active workers when they become fatigued. Evidence of the replacement of active workers by inactive workers has been found in ant colonies. Thus, the presence of inactive workers increases the long-term persistence of the colony at the expense of decreasing short-term productivity. Inactive workers may represent a bet-hedging strategy in response to environmental stochasticity.